NEW DELHI: The think-tank of the Hindutva world is working overtime to effectively meet the situation arising out of the orders of the High Court and the Supreme Court on the cases relating to the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid controversy.

While the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court ordered a slay on constructions on the disputed land, the Supreme Court has asked the State Government to come out with details relating to the construction work being carried out there.

Several options are being examined this regard. One among these is that the Uttar Pradesh Government should de-acquire the land so that the title reverts to the original owners of the land. Much of this was owned by the Ram Janmabhoomi Nyas of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP).

The option, it is felt, would take the State Government out of the picture and bring the VHP into direct confrontation, not merely with the courts but also the Center.

Until now, the UP Government has been fronting for the VHP and its associates. As part of this Strategy a section of the BJP have decided to adopt a different set of tactics. The game plan envisaged that the sadhus and the sants were brought to center stage and the construction work conducted under their supervision.

It is being hoped that any confrontation this time would be between these religious figures on the one hand, and the courts and the Center on the other, raising passions to a religious fervor and giving it a high pitch,

The BJP, which was the center of attack, would step back tactically before coming into the act in a major way when required,

Already, the BJP leadership has begun to assert that while its Government in UP was conscious that building the temple was an essential ingredient of its mandate, the actual construction would be done by the VHP.

It’s role would be limited to removing legal hurdles in the way of the construction of the temple.

In de-acquiring the land, the UP Government would also convey the message that it has removed the hurdles and that the VHP could go ahead on its own.

The court’s ruling that the construction work should be stopped at the site is unlikely to be disputed by the UP Government.

But there is every-likelihood that the Kalyan Singh Government will argue that while it is willing to carry out the court order, it can only do so once the situation is defused.

The VHP, on its part, is expected to interrupt this order as a directive to the State Government and not to it, and is likely to carry on with the construction work as a challenge to the Center,

Senior BJP, RSS and VHP leaders were closeted in a meeting following court orders to reassess the situation and the political fallout of an all-out confrontation.

Over the last few days, scenarios like the Central reacquisition of the land acquired by the UP Government have also been examined by advocates of the temple cause. There has also been discussions on the legal dimensions of certain gray areas that can be taken up by the opponents. But at the center of the controversy is the issue of the acquisition itself, which needs to be sorted.

Article extracted from this publication >> July 31, 1992