Sense and nonsense

Why Ayodhya continues to remain the most intractable issue that contemporary India has had the ill luck to be saddled with, was demonstrated eloquently enough recently. Within a few hours of the prime minister’s sensible observation that Ayodhya should be “freed from politics”, there was the Vishwa Hindu Parishad announcing its plans to enlist the support of “over 5 crore people” to construct a Ram temple at the disputed site. This has, indeed, been the problem in the ten years since the Babri mosque was demolished: The variegated responses to the issue from within the Sangh Parivar and, in some instances, from within the BJP itself.

The big question, then, is whether Vajpayee’s latest proposition will be taken seriously by his own party colleagues. BJP Party President Venkaiah Naidu, having recently incurred Vajpayee’s wrath, was careful to quickly indicate that the party would abide by prime ministerial advice and stay away from the issue. But there was a trace of reluctance in his tone that seemed to belie this ready obedience and the real test of this intent will come as the compulsion of winning elections grips the party once more. Which brings us to the crux of Vajpayee’s argument: Resolution of the issue would require that political parties stop perceiving Ayodhya from the point of view of who gains and who loses. In other words, political parties on both sides of the divide, whether it is Mulayam Singh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party, on the one hand, or the BJP, on the other, should excise the A-word from their political vocabulary and end the competitive politicisation of the issue. If they can arrive at this minimum consensus, there could be some hope of progress towards a resolution. It is only when the loud and angry soundbites cease that the possibility of a genuine dialogue, or indeed a carefully considered court judgement or political settlement, arises.

There is, as we said, only one flaw in this approach. It presupposes that BJP’s allied organisations, like the RSS, Bajrang Dal and VHP, would also fall in line— a very unlikely possibility this. The VHP has, in fact, already upped the ante on the issue for the second time this year. It is now talking in terms of making the campaign for the temple a national one by asking ‘‘Hindus to pledge that they will not rest until a Ram temple is constructed’’. The prime minister recognises that it is only through goodwill and mutual trust that an issue like Ayodhya can be settled, once and for all. We are convinced about the wisdom of such an approach. He should now persuade the fraternal organisations of his party to recognise the import of his words.