The renewed attempts by Hindu fundamentalists to construct a eat Ayodhia in U.P. by demolishing the adjoining Babri these days occupies a place of pride in Indias parliament media, The U.P. state has a B.J.P. government. It had some time ago officially acquired a piece of land just adjoining to be used for raising the proposed mandir. This fundamentalist party had issued a manifesto on the eve of the last election making the mandir construction a star issue, but owing to exigencies of the political situation not much headway could be made all these months. The party at one stage in the recent past even sought to distance itself from the extreme Hindu groups such as the Vishva Hindu Parishad, Bajrang Dal and other hotheads. The partys strategy was to highlight certain other political issues   divert the public attention from the mandir issue because the failure of the BP. government to show results could spell disaster for the party in the next election. Bu strangely the mandir issue is in the forefront again thanks to the not-so-hidden manoeuvres by the Congress (I) central government. It is not at all difficult for the resourceful Indian home ministry to prompt Hindu hot heads to take up the digging work at the site again. The digging work which is prelude to taking up the mandir construction was earlier foiled by the Janata Dal led U.P. government two years ago. On the face of it the digging work at Babri masjid may Took routine but the aim is sinister. The depression is likely 10 become a pond of water which will eventually erode the foundations of the 500 year old Babri structure which would cause its  collapse The construction work has been started by the V.H.P.  And other extremist Hindu organizations despite a stay of construction of permanent structures issued by the Indian. Supreme Court until the disposal of the petitions pending in the U.P. high court It is simply impossible for anyone to commence work at the disputed site unless Delhi has given a secret go-ahead signal. Central forces remain posted at the disputed site take care of any unauthorized construction but despite this presence the work has been going on for several days now. This is not surprising.  Seasoned observers of the Indian scene fully understand and expect such clever political manipulation from the Indian Brahman. After all, the central government is faced with critical problems. It is in a minority in the Indian parliament. It has to tenure the victory of its Brahman candidate for the presidency. -The Indian government is in deep trouble over the unprecedented theft of more than Rs 600 crore by a gang of government and| banking officers in league with stock brokers in Indias stock exchanges, The Indian central government authorities were caught sabotaging the Bofors scandal enquiry. All these problems were expected to be a focus of the non-Congress (I) parties in the just Started session of the parliament. To cap it all, the B.J.P. leader ship is in a sullen mood. It is unhappy with the Narasimha Rao government and no longer is interested in its continuance at the expense of B.J.P.s mandir place. Rao, back stage had come to a secret understanding with the B.J.P. and the letters leaders had gone to the extent of publicly praising Rao for being the best prime minister so far. The party was expecting the prime minister to permit the mandir construction as quid pro quo for its support to the minority regime. But the old Indian fox is cleverer than B.J.Ps Brahmans. To ensure his continuance in power, Rao struck deals with the C.P.(M). Despite this fact, India has moved decisively into the U.S. camp and has unleashed a free market /mechanism on a limited scale.

The C.P. (M) is under pressure from its ranks on the issue of support to Congress (I)s presidential candidate Shankar Dayal Sharma, The party wants to project its independence of the ruling party. That is why it is willy nilly inclined to sponsor a no[confidence motion against the Rao government, The B.J.P. is too  annoyed with Rao not to back any such motion at thus stage.  In southern fox devised a strategy to drive a wedge between Janata  Dal-leftist combine and B.J.P. The masjid-mandir issue hands self readily to help achieve Raos aim, The Indian government therefore gave the Hindu zealots a go-ahead, But the support is limited. The Indian government is likely to withdraw its secret support to Hindu fundamentalists as soon as its aims are realized: its candidate is chosen as president and the anti-government motion in the parliament is somehow defeated. The mandir masjid issue will be relegated to the back burner so that it does not alienate Muslims and other minorities from the Congress (I) Also, it will continue serving as a diversionary tactic from the un precedented banking and share scandal for which the present govt is wholly responsible, The above discussion gives but a small glimpse of the way the operates in diplomacy. Are U.S. government function arise a match for the Brahmin diplomacy?

Article extracted from this publication >> July 24, 1992