Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s fond hope last evening that the Ayodhya issue would soon be solved since India was in a ‘‘problem-solving phase’’ was firmly dashed today with Muslim leaders categorically rejecting claims that negotiations were on with the community, and a belligerent Vishwa Hindu Parishad pressing its new demand for a legislation to construct the Ram temple at the disputed site in Ayodhya.Also, as many as 16 MPs of Vajpayee’s party attended a VHP yagya at Ayodhya’s Karsevakpuram as part of a campaign for the construction of the Ram temple (see page 5).The All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) convenor, Q.R. Ilyas, said Shankaracharya Jayendra Saraswati’s claim that negotiations were on with the Muslim community was completely “baseless” and demanded to know the identity of the Muslim leaders and organisations who were allegedly involved in negotiations. More kar sevaks slam Advani, Joshi Hyderabad: A city-based organisation of Ayodhya kar sevaks on Monday endorsed the allegations of five accused in the Babri Masjid demolition case that Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani, Union Human Resources Minister Murli Manohar Joshi and other senior BJP leaders had instigated them to pull down the disputed structure and that they were being discriminated in the case vis-a-vis VIPs accused. ‘‘We agree with what the karsevaks had confessed at the CBI special court in Lucknow on June 7 that senior BJP leaders instigated them to pull down the structure,’’ National Convenor of Akhil Bharat Ayodhya Rammandir Kar Sevak Sangh, Adhi Venkateswara Rao, told mediapersons here. Rao, who said he had participated in the 1992 karseva and came out of the RSS two years later, said: ‘‘When the crime is same, all accused should be tried in the same manner, but there has been discrimination as some VIPs were separated from the trial’’.The organisation’s state leader T Venkatesam said, ‘‘There is no need for anyone of us to give false evidences against BJP leaders.’’ The president of the All India Majlis-e-Mushawarat, Syed Shahabuddin, echoed the statement and said ‘‘no known Muslim organisations or known leaders’’ were involved and sarcastically wondered if the government was just picking up people ‘‘from the street, putting them in a dark room, and making them sign agreements.’’Speaking to The Indian Express, Shahabuddin also questioned the Prime Minister’s sincerity about keeping politics out of the Ayodhya issue, pointing out that ‘‘in the last few months, the government has deliberately politicised it. It has done so before the Supreme Court, before the Liberhan Commission, by appointing a key VHP figure like Swami Chinmayanand as minister of home affairs, and by mobilising MPs in favour of a legislation for the construction of the Ram temple.’’ Shahabuddin added, ‘‘There can be no legislation without politics.’’ His charge that the issue was being politicised was buttressed by the VHP’s reaction today. VHP chief Ashok Singhal told reporters in Ayodhya that ‘‘if political parties are keen to solve this issue, they should enact a law in favour of construction of the Ram temple at Ayodhya.’’ Asserting that it was the “only plausible solution” now, Singhal said the VHP would not settle for anything less.In fact, the top brass of the VHP are holding a two-day meeting in Ayodhya right now to finalise details of a new “Mandir Nirman Sankalp Sutra” programme to be launched in July. The three-month programme envisages contacting two crore people and tying a rakhi-like thread on their wrists as part of a ‘‘mass mobilisation’’ in favour of a law to hand over the Ayodhya site to the VHP.Regardless of whether this programme succeeds, it signifies a major shift in the organisation’s strategy on the Ayodhya issue. So far, the government has emphasised that it can be solved either through negotiations or a court verdict. The Prime Minister reiterated this position at the function to felicitate the Shankaracharya yesterday, adding that ‘‘these two options are not mutually exclusive. They can be made complementary.’’ The VHP, however, is not interested in either option anymore and is pressing for the third route — legislation — to get their way in Ayodhya. Although there is little chance of the government bringing such a bill to Parliament in the near future, the VHP is set to make it a big campaign issue which might snowball as general elections near.The RSS, meanwhile, has officially welcomed the Prime Minister’s statement. At the same time, the RSS is quietly backing the VHP’s legislation demand. When contacted, RSS spokesman Ram Madhav said if a negotiated settlement did not come about and the legal process was delayed, legislation was a good option.
