National

Blast From The Past

The terrorist attack, if nothing else, backdates Advani into his old charioteer days. Will he pick up the yokes? <a href=pti_coverage.asp?gid=337 target=_blank> Updates</a>

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Blast From The Past
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So, thirteen years after the demolition of the Babri Masjid, the disputed shrine again triggered a bout of "nationalist" hysterics in the saffron parivar. Old Ram bhakts like Kalyan Singh, Rajnath Singh and Murli Manohar Joshi dashed off to Ayodhya. L.K. Advani, still reeling under the impact of his failed image makeover, did pause to ponder. But three days after the terrorist strike, the charioteer, now older and wiser, too felt compelled to make his way to the temple town.

In Delhi, the moderate Jaswant Singh mouthed phrases such as "Hindu aastha" and sought the resignation of the Union home minister and the Uttar Pradesh CM even though the attack had been foiled. So shaken and stirred was the former external affairs minister that he equated the attack on "Ram lalla" with that on the Indian Parliament. "One is a temple of worship, the other the temple of democracy. Both are significant to our nation," he declared in his impeccable English.

The VHP, meanwhile, mouthed its all-too-familiar invective against Pakistan/ Muslims/terrorists. In Delhi, its activists had to be teargassed. Praveen Togadia, master of ceremonies of the high-decibel yell-without-pause-for-breath brigade, stormed out of a "top-secret" meeting with the RSS in Surat to fulminate about "jehadi designs against Hindus". Ashok Singhal too held an impromptu press briefing there to describe his "anguish and pain". (Strangely, laddoos were distributed by animated Bajrang Dal activists as soon as the VHP president finished speaking!)

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But underneath all the visible excitement over Ayodhya, the neurosis that has torn apart the Sangh parivar continued to spread. Another twist in the tale was added by the decision of the Allahabad HC to revive criminal charges against Advani in the Babri Masjid demolition case (on September 19, 2003, a special court had cleared Advani in the demolition case but had ordered the framing of charges against all the other BJP and VHP accused). Criminal charges would ordinarily be an embarrassment for a man who holds the constitutional post of Leader of the Opposition. But given the extraordinary politics in the BJP, the court judgement, coming two days after the terrorist strike at Ayodhya, feels almost like a double-edged certificate.

Says a BJP general secretary: "How can we or the RSS publicly target him now, when he is again in the dock over the Ram temple movement...an article of faith with us?" Advani himself, perhaps, is revelling in the irony—the ghost of Ayodhya saves him again and so soon after he had enraged the Sangh parivar with his statement in Pakistan that the Babri demolition was the "saddest day" of hislife. BJP sources also believe the Liberhans Commission probing the events leading up to the demolition is on the verge of completing its report—Advani, bang in the middle of an attempt to disentangle himself from his hardline past, can now choose to to don the noose like a badge of honour.

The party itself made the expected noises, but it knows Ayodhya has little public resonance. A BJP general secretary admitted: "We are going through the motions to please the RSS and VHP. This is when we are getting flak from opponents and our own middle-class constituency for only raising emotive issues. We have no choice in the matter."

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Public fatigue with politics centred on the Ram temple was evident in Ayodhya town itself. The VHP-BJP had claimed that 3,000 sadhus would attend a meeting addressed by M.M. Joshi and Ashok Singhal the day after the attack; only 300 showed up. The response to the bandh was also muted. Schools, banks and government offices remained open with VHP cadre having to force shopkeepers to down shutters. Mahant Gyan Das, head of the Hanuman Garhi temple, told Outlook: "For many years, these people managed to excite the religious sentiments of Hindus. But now they have been exposed. No one in Ayodhya has time for them anymore. People say if the mosque had not been razed, Ayodhya would not have attracted terrorists. Ram is not an issue that works anymore."

The cruel irony in this is the fact that many leaders of the BJP too might agree with this assessment. The party knows it has little grounds for agitation, particularly as it failed to build a Ram temple after six years in power. Moreover, with the terrorist attempt having been thwarted, there is no real public outrage. Says a BJP leader: "What are we agitating for? What is our demand? We don't know. What we do know is that this issue will die down in a few days."

Public ennui apart, the stand of the NDA allies also makes it difficult for the BJP to crank up the issue. Janata Dal (U) leader Sharad Yadav told Outlook: "The security forces and administration responded with great efficiency. There is no ground for complaint." NDA convenor George Fernandes travelled all the way to Ayodhya, not to join the BJP's chorus of protest but to praise the Mulayam Singh government for its handling of the incident. Another veteran NDA leader even poked fun at the BJP: "They are like monkeys who wear anklets and keep dancing to a particular tune. We are not worried about them raising the issue because there is no issue to raise. But if they keep dancing like monkeys, the NDA will break up."

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For behind the Ayodhya smokescreen, the BJP continues to be in the grip of an acute crisis. Advani's determination to hang on as party president has exposed the helplessness of the RSS. Highly placed sources reveal that he has repeatedly refused to listen to RSS "suggestions" that he quit one of his two posts. His current gameplan appears to be to exploit the divisions between the second-rung leaders in order to stay on. He may even have successfully manipulated the situation towards a stalemate. It was widely believed that the RSS would take more "decisive action" against him after the crucial Surat meeting, but the Ayodhya attack has come as a breather.

The BJP, on the other hand, finds itself in no-man's land. The leadership stands discredited. The second rung have retreated into their respective corners. The ideology no longer excites even the faithful. There seems to be no plan for the future. Says a member of the party's national executive: "All we seem to be concerned with is how to end this state of paralysis. When will Advani give up? Who will take over?"

The day after the terrorists struck at Ayodhya, BJP cadres tried to flaunt their muscle by making intemperate remarks and disrupting life across thecountry. In Ayodhya, BJP member and leader of the Ramjanmabhoomi trust, Ram Vilas Vedanti, declared: "The best way to protect Ram lalla is by expelling all Muslim families from the town as they are the ones who provide shelter to terrorists." In BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh, the cadres managed to get some attention when they stormed the tarmac of Indore airport and delayed a Delhi-boundflight. Elsewhere, the "protest" was little more than small scattered groups of party workers trying desperately to be noticed.

Yet during a short speech made in the pouring rain in Delhi's Jantar Mantar, Advani declared that the terrorists had "revived" the Ramjanmabhoomi movement. "If yesterday's attack served to strengthen the national resolve to build the Ram temple, it would be a matter of immense fortune," he said. Advani's logic was as convoluted as his Jinnah formulation. His speech appeared as purposeless as the direction in which the BJP is headed, somewhat like the needle stuck in a groove on a scratchy record.

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