Court order forces BJP to don a new avataar

The Bharatiya Janata Party has made a shocking volte face on the Babri Masjid issue.

After the mosque was demolished by kar sevaks on December 6, 1992, the party took great pride, condemning the 664-year-old structure as a ''symbol of slavery''. Today, five summers later, the saffron pride has faded, and the BJP has washed its hands of one of the bloodiest chapters in Indian history.

''We did not demolish that structure,'' says BJP vice-president and then Uttar Pradesh chief minister Kalyan Singh. ''The BJP is no way concerned with whatever has happened in Ayodhya. Perhaps it was the outcome of the people's simmering anger -- they were sick of the successive governments's continued dilly-dallying on the question of constructing Lord Ram's temple at the site.''

Other top Uttar Pradesh leaders like state BJP chief Raj Nath Singh and Urban Development Minister Lalji Tandon echo similar views.

Such a drastic change in their stance could be attributed to two reasons. First, the Central Bureau of Investigation court's decision to chargesheet 49 BJP, Shiv Sena and Vishwa Hindu Parishad leaders for the mosque demolition and its grave legal implications. Second, the Ayodhya issue has lost its rabble-rousing potential.

However, the fact remains that both statements are driven by political compulsions, despite the BJP's assertion that the Ayodhya was a ''purely religious'' issue.

Five year ago, the BJP badly needed the credit for the incident -- and the votes which came with it. Today, when the court decision threatens to bring it discredit and perhaps prison terms for several leaders, the party has donned a new avataar.

Though some BJP leaders maintain that ''the court order has not come as a surprise'', it is amply evident that none of them expected special CBI Judge Jagdish Prasad Srivastava to uphold the agency's chargesheets, filed some four years ago.

In his 48-page order, the judge had found the 49 accused to be prima facie guilty of ''entering into a criminal conspiracy under Section 120-B of the Indian Penal Code for defiling a place of worship with the intent to insult the religion and causing public mischief''.

Since the accused included top BJP leaders like L K Advani, Kalyan Singh, Uma Bharti, Vijaya Raje Scindia, VHP chief Ashok Singhal and Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray, it was certainly a matter of deep concern for the BJP. After all, the designated court had clearly said in its order of September 9 that the accused were involved in ''promoting enmity between different groups of religions, promoting hatred and evil between classes at a place of worship, rioting and voluntarily causing hurt to deter a public servant from carrying out his duty''. The court also agreed with the prosecution view that the accused ''had caused grievous hurt by damaging the life and personal safety of others''.

While the matter will come up for hearing before the court on October 17, when the trial would formally commence, the timing of the order has embarrassed the BJP leadership.

Considering that the BJP had welcomed the Election Commission's recent order barring convicts from contesting elections, its leaders are at their wits's end in view of a possible conviction. But their immediate worry is the fallout of the court order on Uttar Pradesh chief minister-in-waiting Kalyan Singh.

Therefore, state BJP leaders have taken the offensive on the issue. ''This (referring to the court proceedings) is a ploy to implicate Kalyan Singh who has never encouraged the politics of violence,'' roars state party chief Raj Nath Singh. ''People behind the conspiracy will soon be exposed.''

Though the BJP leaders face trial under at least 10 sections of the IPC, Raj Nath Singh claims, ''This is not a criminal offence; this is not corruption.''

Snarling back at Janata Dal and SP leaders who have been against Kalyan Singh's elevation, Raj Nath Singh and Tandon ask, ''Why was Mulayam Singh Yadav allowed to become defence minister, when he has been chargesheeted in the state guest house assault case? He also faces grave criminal charges in several old cases.''

Asked how he could discriminate between charges faced by former Bihar chief minister Laloo Prasad Yadav and BJP leader Kalyan Singh, Tandon says, ''If our stand on Ayodhya is regarded as a criminal offence, then millions of Ram bhakts in the country face the same fate.''

Did the court order revive the Ayodhya issue which otherwise seems almost dead? Tandon retorts, ''The Ayodhya issue will remain alive until all hurdles in the way of the Ram temple construction are cleared. Though we have never said we will build the temple as a party or as a government, clearing hurdles facing the temple construction tops our agenda. This will be possible only when we have our own government at the Centre. For, then, we will either resolve the whole issue through negotiations or by bringing in a legislation.''

Lucknow-based RSS sources do not hesitate to spell out what is being contemplated in this regard. ''The court order has come as a boon. With elections round the corner, we will spread the word across to our grassroots that the government was trying crush the temple movement,'' a senior RSS official points out. ''By the time elections are announced, the entire nation will know how the BJP is being persecuted for its firm stand on the issue.''

So the court order seems to be a blessing in disguise for the party which currently is in no position to relaunch its ''tirade against corruption''. For people feel it has turned a blind eye to the rampant corruption during coalition partner Mayawati's regime.

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