It's been a narrow squeak, but the Vajpayee government's handling of the controversy around the visit of Pope John Paul II to India - its first major test - seems to be working. Assuming, of course, there's no madcap attempt to disrupt the pontiff's engagements in Delhi - which include an address to the Asian Synod of Bishops at the Sacred Heart Cathedral, a Holy Mass at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium and a meeting with representatives of all religions at Vigyan Bhawan.
In fact, even as the Goa-to-Delhi protest yatra by a Sangh parivar-backed outfit was prevented from entering Madhya Pradesh on Thursday, senior leaders, from Vajpayee and Advani to Jaswant Singh, were busy trying to stand firm against any attempt to disrupt or criticise the Pope's visit. Yet, the protests - though enfeebled - seemed to persist. And the government's hands will only be full if it can't rein in organisations thinking of launching an ad campaign raising questions they want the Pope to answer.
For, even as the government works overtime to ensure that the papal visit goes without a hitch and is saved from the international opprobrium heaped upon it in the wake of attacks on Christians last year, the fact remains that the Sangh parivar's dreams seem to be coming to fruition. Of creating a country where any social, cultural or religious strand seen as opposed to or "foreign" vis-a-vis the Hindu is regarded as fair game.
The government was accused of not doing enough to hold back those demanding an apology from the Pope for "forcible conversions" allegedly being carried out by Christian missionaries in India and the "atrocities" committed on Hindus in Goa during Portuguese rule. Despite a spirited rebuttal by external affairs minister Jaswant Singh and home minister L.K. Advani in Parliament, the Vajpayee government's attitude towards the whole issue is still being held suspect. "They may be doing the needful in letter but certainly not in spirit," says a senior church official.
As the All India Catholic Union pointed out - in response to the Vajpayee government "advising" vice-president Krishan Kant not to attend the all-religion meet organised for the pontiff on November 7 ostensibly because a representative of a secular state could not be present at a non-official religious function: "The government's advice seems to be in consonance with statements issued by members of the ruling party and associates in the Sangh parivar who've been protesting against the Pope, our faith and our Church... Non-official functions of a religious nature are routinely attended by the highest dignitaries." The charge from senior members of the church is clear: the Sangh's using one freedom (of speech) to curtail another (of religion).
But the government seems far too busy patting itself on the back for not having pushed the Sangh too far while sticking to its official stand of ensuring the Pope's visit is a successful one. According to sources in the pmo, Vajpayee and Advani have been in close touch over this issue and have played a crucial role in "persuading" the VHP et al in "seeing reason". While Advani had held talks with Sangh leaders in the second week of October, Vajpayee too is reported to have spoken to the VHP's Ashok Singhal and Giriraj Kishore a week later. "Both leaders were clear that burning of effigies or any other agitational programme against a state guest was not acceptable," says a prime ministerial aide.
Sources point to a distinct change in the protestors' attitude as a result of "high-level intervention", but critics see this as another example of the Vajpayee government's desire to keep the fundamentalists on board. Just as many in the Church (and the Opposition) refuse to believe that the refusal to allow Kant to attend a function for the Pope had anything to do with the mea not wanting to irk China because the Dalai Lama will also be there. "At best, it's a pretext. The point is that after having leaned on the hardliners to curb their protests, they were so indebted they couldn't snub the Sangh," says a senior Congress leader.
Likewise, the Opposition felt sops were being offered to hardliners by Jaswant Singh, who, speaking in the Rajya Sabha earlier in the week, said that "repentance was a part of Christian ethics". The uproar from the Opposition brought forth a clarification that he was making no demands or asking for an apology but many felt he'd signalled clearly where his sympathies lay. The Church also pointed out that senior government figures have disapproved of the agitation against the Pope but without naming the organisations behind it. Then there are those in the BJP like party vice-president J.P. Mathur who've on record said "protests are a right but should be peaceful".
In its defence, a BJP leader says the government's gone out of its way to curb even peaceful protests through persuasion, because of the sensitive nature of the issue. That not only the government but also the party has officially distanced itself from the VHP's agitationist agenda. That a commitment's been given in Parliament by senior ministers assuring full security and success for the visit and that it was this government which gave the go-ahead for the visit in the first place when China said no. The MP government might try and make political capital of preventing the Goa-Delhi yatra from entering the state, he says, but it was the home ministry which sent out a note to all states telling them to prevent any such incident.
The Sangh, though, clearly believes its purpose has been achieved: that despite the "limitations" of the BJP and a coalition government, political parties, religious organisations or those working in the socio-cultural field are having to recognise that India's a secular but Hindu majority country. Which is why theories about cracks within the Sangh parivar (between the BJP and the RSS/VHP) may be a bit premature. There are, of course, many hardliners chafing at the bit and skirmishes with 'moderates' will intensify; but the government's response to the anti-Pope agitations seems to indicate more of a division of labour than a divide within.
Meanwhile, the agitation has opened fissures between Hindus and Christians in the northeast, West Bengal, Orissa, MP and Gujarat. And also among the BJP's political allies, including the tdp, mdmk, Trinamul and the bjd. But the BJP is confident of managing both. In terms of strategy, the government may have been spot on and the dictates of electoral politics probably mean that the mistrust of minorities, while "a saddening development" for some in the ruling hierarchy, doesn't affect their popular support. But then there's the view that there is more to governing India than being sharp managers.
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