Vandalism has to be Discouraged

The law finally caught the vandals and culprits who demolished the Babri mosque. On Friday, the 19^th September 2003 a special court, though exonerated Mr. L.K. Advani, ordered the framing of charges against seven others including Mr. Murli Manohar Joshi, the cabinet minister for human resource development.

It has come as a surprise why the court cleared the Deputy Prime Minister, Mr. Advani, who in the eyes of common men is equally guilty of provoking a mob that demolished the mosque. Men with legal acumen are best suited to comment on this aspect of the case. A layman at best may say that perhaps CBI, that functions under the Deputy PM, did not present enough evidence before the court as a result of which Mr. Advani’s name was cleared. Whatever the truth the CBI’s good name has come under cloud.

The Sangh Privar is a rabble rousing tribe. They believe that the more they make noise the more the saner voices will be drowned. As the strategy has paid well till now, there is reason to believe that political mercury will rise high, atleast in U.P. in the coming days. The Hindutva forces are in power at centre for many years but have achieved little and as a result can not ask people to give them another term in office. The more they will realize that the public is angry or unhappy with their performance the more they will indulge in rabble rousing and cause communal disturbances here or there.

The Sangh Privar is a shameless tribe. They are governed by immediacy of logic and, as a result, issue contradictory statements from time to time. Till now they have been crying that Ayodhy’s was a religious movement; but after the court’s decision to frame charges against some of their top leaders they have come up with the logic that since the temple movement has been political one and therefore a person involved in such activities should not resign from his/her ministerial post because he/she has not committed a moral crime. In so saying they have clearly admitted that their temple movement has been a mere political exercise for political purposes.

The next general parliamentary elections are to be held in a year, or so, time. The Sangh Privar would surely try to raise the political temperature by intensifying the temple movement in electorally crucial U.P. Fortunately for them Mr. Mulayam Singh Yadav has taken the reigns of the most populous state. In fact, it was Sangh Privar’s design to install Mr. Yadav as U.P. Chief Minister after ousting Ms. Mayawati from office. For a section of Hindus Mr. Yadav is infamous for having ordered the police to fire at the Ram Bhaktas. Moreover, he would be projected as pro-minority and anti-Hindu. There are any number of short-sighted people in Mr. Mulayam’s clan who would do political favour to the Sangh Privar by issuing foolish statements or doing things that would prove to be good propaganda material for the Hindutva forces.

Let us come again to the point with which we started this article. Framing of charges against any body, no doubt, does not mean that he is guilty. Now the lengthy process of trial will begin and no one knows how long this court battle will be. But the very fact that the axe of law has finally fallen on the culprits is a matter of satisfaction. Many had come to believe that the Sangh Privar’s strategy of creating mob frenzy would never be caught by the long hand of law; however the tortoise-paced legal system of India proved a point or two by framing charges against the culprits who played a dirty role in the demolition of the Babri mosque.

But one should not be unduly happy. From the Ayodhya excavations to the installation of Mulayam Singh as CM and framing of charges by the court against top BJP-VHP leaders there seems to be a method which must be taken note of. The BJP is sure going to use all these to its advantage which means they will raise the political and communal temperature once again in U.P. the time ahead, therefore, is tough.

[September, 2003]