Familiar rant

It is impossible not to be overwhelmed by deja vu at the vicious cacophony coming from the VHP8217;s direction over the last few days. At t...

It is impossible not to be overwhelmed by deja vu at the vicious cacophony coming from the VHP8217;s direction over the last few days. At the gathering of its Kendriya Margdarshak Mandal at Hardwar, there were its leading lights spewing venom against Muslims again, openly flaunting the organisation8217;s contempt for the rule of law. No, it would not abide by the court verdict on Ayodhya, not if it went against the Dharma Shastras. Yes, the Muslims would have to stay in relief camps like in Gujarat, if they 8216;8216;continue to take the country towards partition8217;8217;. It8217;s a familiar tirade from the VHP 8212; its climbdown in March in response to the Kanchi seer8217;s mediation was the exception. And it is followed by a familiar silence from the BJP-led government at the Centre 8212; broken only by the mechanical trotting out of the court-or-consensus incantation without taking the VHP to task for its flagrant refusal to adhere to both. Even before the embers have been fully tamped down in Gujarat, could this be the revival of the campaign of hate? Will the government abdicate its responsibility to rein in the hatemongers once more 8212; until it8217;s too late?

It is tempting to ignore the VHP8217;s fulminations, to dismiss them as the outlandish rantings of a marginalised organisation forced to hark back to a tired 8216;cause8217; to hold on to a slipping base. The idea of the VHP8217;s irrelevance is a terribly attractive one. Unfortunately, we don8217;t have the option to ignore the VHP8217;s posturing. Not when tensions of the near-crisis in Ayodhya earlier this year in March are yet to fade. Not when images from the Gujarat carnage still return to haunt. Not when barely two days after the belligerence at Hardwar comes news from Uttar Pradesh that could have been scripted by Singhal and his band: former Bajrang Dal chief and known hardliner Vinay Katiyar has been appointed as president of the Uttar Pradesh unit of the BJP.

The elevation of Katiyar to the crucial post cannot be incidental. It is a signal that the BJP intends to flog the temple issue once more in UP, that the party will try to claw its way back to centrestage in the state by means of a divisive politics. Katiyar8217;s reputation as a hardliner is well earned 8212; he shot into whatever fame he can claim after the 1990 police firing in Ayodhya. The MP from Faizabad has made his mark in Parliament by his readiness to raise slogans and kill the debate. With Katiyar in the saddle in UP and the VHP once again upping the ante, the countdown to the 2004 Lok Sabha elections may have already begun. It remains to be seen whether or not the old slogan works for the party at the hustings 8212; it is more likely that it will not. But in the run up, it is the responsibility of the governments, in UP and at the Centre, to uphold the law and keep the peace.