The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) at a crucial meeting here today asked the Atal Behari Vajpayee Government to bring a legislation to facilitate the construction of the Ram temple at Ayodhya. Thanks to the sobering effect of the presence of Sarsanghchalak K S Sudarshan and his second-in-command Mohan Bhagwat, the meeting did not seek the resignation of Vajpayee if he failed to do so.The high-powered Ram Mandir Andolan Samiti, which met in the aftermath of the Shankaracharya initiative, appointed a five-member sub-committee headed by former member of Parliament Mahant Avaidyanath to draw the future course of action. The acutal mandate of the sub-committee is to promptly decide on the Parishad strategy at a short notice in case there is a sudden development on the Ayodhya issue. The members of the committee include Swami Vasudevanand Saraswati and Swami Parmanand.Echoing the RSS line, the meeting adopted a resolution ruling out any possibility of the VHP giving up its claim on the Kashi and Mathura shrines in return for a settlement of the Ayodhya issue.But what may come as a relief to the Government is that the VHP has stopped short of announcing any drastic move and give it a breather to continue its efforts to find a negotiated settlement to the Ayodhya issue. The VHP had earlier declared that the meeting may give a call for a ‘‘major action’’ to take the temple movement forward.Sources disclosed that Sudarshan said while addressing the VHP leaders that they needed understand that Vajpayee was leading an alliance government, bound by a common minimum programme. Therefore, they had to appreciate its limitations.The RSS had already distanced itself from the demand made by both VHP working president Ashok Singhal and vice-president Acharya Giriraj Kishore for the Prime Minister’s failure to facilitate the construction of the temple. Sangh spokesman Ram Madhav had maintained that “it could be the personal view” of Singhal. Taking a cue from the Sangh-line, neither Singhal, nor Kishore mentioned the demand. However, Singhal, according to sources, argued that once the BJP came forward with a legislation, its leaders, who campaigned for the construction of the Ram temple, would be at least able to vindicate themselves before people. It did not matter even if they failed to push the legislation through.However, the VHP, still unable to get over the determined attempts to sideline it in the course of the Kanchi Shankarcharya initiative, did call upon the seer not to negotiate in future ‘‘with those people who have no respect for Hindu sentiments and leaders.’’ It is a loaded statement, open to any interpretation of who ‘‘those people’’ are.The meeting was attended by VHP president V H Dalmia, Ashok Singhal, general secretary Pravin Togadia, Mahant Avaidyanath, Giriraj Kishore, spokesman Veereshwar Dwivedi, Bajrang Dal national co-ordinator Prakash Sharma, Swami Parmanand and Swami Vasudevanand Saraswati. Ramjanmabhoomi Nyas chief Mahant Ramchandra Das Paramhans could not attend the meet due to indisposition.The VHP has already scheduled a sampark sutra programme to reach out to one crore people spread over two lakh villages across the country to enlist their support for the temple cause.
