Parivar panics, pipes down

‘‘The VHP takes collective decisions on issues concerning only the national interest and the interests of Hindus. As far as the temple is concerned, the demand of the sants as of now is with regard to the undisputed land,’’ Kishore said.

The Parivar and the Government have reasons to worry. The sudden escalation of the Ayodhya rhetoric by the VHP leader has knocked the bottom out of the Centre’s application before the Supreme Court seeking vacation of its interim order passed on the eve of the threatened Shila Puja last March.

The Government has sought the vacation of the interim order by claiming, that unlike last year, there was no danger this time to law and order on account of the Ayodhya issue.

In its application filed on February 4, the Government said pointedly that ‘‘the situation prevailing when the order was passed was far different from the situation prevailing today.’’

Referring to the VHP’s mass mobilisation in Ayodhya early last year to perform Shila Puja, the application said ‘‘when the order was passed, the apprehension of law and order and violation of earlier court orders was being openly voiced.’’ It added for good measure that ‘‘at this point of time, however, the situation has changed.’’

The Government’s optimism about the current situation has since been belied by Togadia, who issued a fresh ultimatum on when the entire 70-acre acquired land in Ayodhya should be handed over for the construction of the Ram temple.

On February 21, the Supreme Court is due to hear the application seeking vacation of its March order forbidding any religious activity on the acquired land and restraining the Government from handing over any part of it to anybody. But government sources say that they will request for earlier hearing.

Togadia yesterday demanded the Government should find some legal means for handing over the land by February 22, when the VHP is due to hold a Dharam Sansad in the Capital. He said the land the VHP wants is not just the undisputed land but also the 0.33 acre disputed land where the Babri Masjid once stood.

Flying in the face of the Government’s claim to the apex court that there was no present danger to law and order on the Ayodhya front, Togadia warned that if the VHP’s latest demand is not met on time, it would lead to a ‘‘people’s movement’’ laying claim to thousands of other mosques.

The Parivar leaders were struggling today to disown Togadia’s statement. Asked why Togadia adopted an extreme line on Ayodhya, Kishore said that he perhaps thought, ‘‘Top maango to tamancha milega (If you ask for a canon, you will get a country-made gun),’’ implying that his demand would be met only half-way.

Though Kishore denied any pressure to retract, that was not the case. The government, anxious to avoid any unnecessary complication in its effort to transfer the undisputed land to the Ramjanmabhoomi Nyas, acted fast.

Human Resources Development Minister Murli Manohar Joshi, who contacted Ashok Singhal at Allahabad, told a group of journalists here: ‘‘We are working for the removal of restrictions on the undisputed land. The Government is very clear on the disputed land — the Supreme Court alone will decide its fate.’’

According to sources, Joshi told Singhal that Togadia’s stand on the disputed land is incompatible with the initiative taken by the Government in the Supreme Court.

BJP president M Venkaiah Naidu too, while speaking to the media at Chandigarh, rejected any suggestion to hand over the disputed site to the VHP.