Party pooper VHP

Congratulations and celebrations on the NDA government crossing the four-year milestone are likely to be inhibited by more than just the mod...

Congratulations and celebrations on the NDA government crossing the four-year milestone are likely to be inhibited by more than just the model code of conduct in the Capital. They are blighted, more, by the VHP8217;s proposed march to Ayodhya. To be sure, Vajpayee8217;s government has provided a certain stability at the Centre, it has several development initiatives it can deservedly be proud of and its longevity is admirable. But. The VHP8217;s threatened exertions in the temple town later this week, the ongoing mobilisation of its cadres and the people, the looming threat of violence and terrible communal tension that has unfailingly attached to its programmes in the past, couldn8217;t be more ironically timed. The prime minister urges the nation to trust in the VHP. He mustn8217;t be surprised if the nation doesn8217;t jump to his command.

The VHP8217;s threat to communal peace has never been discreet. The organisation8217;s cadres participated in the dangerous mobilisation that led to the demolition of the Babri Masjid in UP 1992, many lent their shoulder to the crime. The VHP8217;s fingerprints were discernible again in the horrible pogrom in Gujarat 2001. It has assiduously kept the embers burning in Ayodhya, with programmes carefully choreographed to rhyme with election schedules. Its leaders relentlessly dare the law of the land that proscribes hate speech. As they try to keep a flagging movement from running out of breath, Togadia and Co flaunt their contempt for all legal, constitutional and political constraints on their passions. They make no secret of their scorn for the prime minister and his office. Is this the resume, then, of an organisation that can be trusted to keep the peace? Or should the nation bank upon the VHP merely testing the temperatures this time, ahead of a crucial round of polls? Is there any comfort to be drawn from the fact that, as one of its leading lights put it, mobs are useful to destroy, not to build and, therefore, expect no great fireworks this time in Ayodhya?

There is no credible reason why the nation must show any patience with either the VHP or its programme. There is no political consensus on a law for temple construction in Ayodhya. The VHP cannot be allowed to shout down the democratic opposition that stands in its way. The Mulayam Singh government must discount all assurances, and take no chances. On his part, the prime minister must take the UP chief minister8217;s charge that the Union minister of state for home is actively plotting the VHP8217;s strategy seriously. If that be so, a reminder of ministerial responsibility, if not more, is in order.