PM’s musings: Day after, no one seems impressed

The Communist Party of India was more vehement in that it charged Vajpayee for trying to sell Hindutva as a ‘‘legitimate concept.’’ Alleging that the musings reflected ‘‘his tradition of double talk’’, the party said ‘‘he has tried hard to hoodwink the people.’’

Interestingly, Vajpayee’s colleagues in the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) weren’t impressed either.

While they welcomed the PM’s remarks in as much as they are a departure from the Sangh Parivar’s Hindutva theory, they expressed reservations over the ‘‘attempt to shift the focus of the discourse from secularism to Hindutva’’.

‘‘The PM’s musings are fine in the context of his saying that extreme views do not go hand in hand with Hindutva. Nevertheless, we have to remind ourselves that the Constitution uses the word ‘secular’ and doesn’t refer to Hindutva. Even the Supreme Court hasn’t said that India is a state based on Hindutva,’’ said Samata Party spokesman Shambu Srivastava.

But he and leaders of other allies are happy that the BJP leadership had ‘‘realised’’ that undue encouragement to forces like the VHP do not augur well for the NDA.

‘‘If the VHP, which has been threatening to set a date for the construction of a Ram temple at a dharma sansad in February, goes ahead with its plans problems will definitely arise for the alliance,’’ remarked a senior NDA leader. ‘‘But we have no problems as long as the Centre is wedded to the national agenda,’’ Srivastava said.

The allies said the temple issue would have to be settled only on the basis of an agreement between religious leaders of Hindus and Muslims or through a court verdict. There cannot be any other course of action, they pointed out, condemning the threats from the VHP that it would take up temple construction on its own.