NEW DELHI: The Narasimha Rao governments capitulation to Hindu fundamentalist forces on the Babri masjid issue has completely shaken him as prime minister and as chief of Indias Congress(I) ruling party. After meeting Rao at an informal get together Vindo Mehta editor of Pioneer observed that the former was shaken confused and bewildered being led and not leading. Mehta’s assessment was subsequently borne out by the manner in which the central Indian government dismissed the B.J.P.-led state governments of Himachal Pradesh Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. It is well known that Rao himself was in no great hurry to remove the three state governments after he had removed the U.P state government where the disputed shrine was located But evidently Rao’s colleague in the central government Arjun Singh as also leaders of the Communist Party (Marxist) put pressure on the prime minister to sack the three state governments. Anun Singh hails from Madhya Pradesh and has traditionally to contend with his B.J.P rivals. He has been projecting himself as a supporter of minorities such as Muslims and Sikhs. Arjun Singh is said to be an anti-B.J.P. hard-liner and feels that the prime ministers soft handling has led to the alienation of Muslims from the Congress (I) and the dismissal of the B.J.P governments would retrieve the situation to some extent. Muslim public opinion has indeed turned strongly against Rao the Congress (I) and the police everywhere. Muslims in the first instance see Rao as a bigger culprit than the B.J.P.-V.H.P-R.S.S. combine in relation to the destruction of the Babri masjid. It was with great difficulty that anti-Rao forces with in the Congress{!) persuaded Muslim members of the Cabinet not to resign their posts A Congress(I) legislator of Bihar openly accused Rao of complicity in the destruction drama Even bigger cause of Muslim resentment than the Babri destruction is the amount of anti-Muslim poison that has been injected into Indias security forces It is now well established that 99% of the 1200odd persons who died after the Babri destruction were Muslims As many as 200 persons died in Maharashtra alone in less than a week. According to Janata Dal leaders George Fernandes and Mufti Mohammed Syed there was no riot anywhere between Muslims and Hindus. The team found after visiting 50 trouble spots in Bombay that the killings were largely the result of police firings. On protesting Muslims. “What has shocked me is the amount of mistrust and hatred towards the police” Fernandes observed. The police did not allow even the distribution of food among the curfew bound areas which mostly were Muslim areas. In Andhra Pradesh according to a report in Pioneer Muslims were fired upon and killed while hoisting black fags if protest against the Babri destruction. In most cases the police was firing with the intention to kill. Even women protestors were not spared. The police officers confessed it was over-reaction on the part of the police. The police ordered English daily edited by a Muslim to be closed down merely on the ground that the paper carried news to give names of the persons killed in police firings because the publication of the list tended to cause communal “disharmony.” On the other hand during the press briefings the Andhra home minister gave no names of the victims of police firings. The only name of a victim he gave was of “Romesh” a Hindu When newsmen asked why no names are mentioned the home minister said that the official notes he received did not have the names of the victims.
It was also disclosed that the R.S.S-V.H.P.-B.J.P. Combine at Ayodhya had ensured that volunteers from Andhra Pradesh were kept in forefront of destruction plans. The lead was actually taken by a 22-year-old young man Vangara of Karimnagar village where Prime Minister Narasimha Rao was born in 1992. Another interesting fact that has emerged from Andhra is that the police in that state provided security to 8000-odd Hindu fundamentalist volunteers on their return from Ayodhya. The police also served food to these volunteers.
These reports from Andhra Pradesh and Maharashura which have Congress(I) state governments clearly show that the ruling Party were mixed up with Hindu fundamentalists. The fundamentalists had the support of police. The situation in the B.J.P ruled States could well be imagined. After the “kar seva” the police fired indiscriminately on the Muslim masses protesting against the destruction of the masjid. More than 1200 Muslims were killed and about 4500 were injured in less than a week.
All this led to seething discontent in the Muslim community against the ruling party and the Indian state. While Arjun Singh Sharad Pawar and other Rao critics are trying to retrieve the loss to the ruling party the Communist groups are trying to fish in troubled waters. They are forcing the prime minister to push ahead with anti-B.J.P campaign “if he is sincere about seeking Communist support” in the Lok Sabha. Rao is obliging the Communists to save his own skin. It does not suit the Congress (I) to go in for mid-term election immediately. The Communists 100 are not enamored by the prospect of an early election. But the BJP does not mind if election is held early next year Even the Janata Dal headed by V.P.Singh is not averse to an early election because the party leadership feels that it could ride to victory on the basis of support from minority groups as well as backward communities on the Mandal plank.
The addition farmers too are inclined to support the V.P.Singhled party because the former prime minister recently opposed the import of wheat and demanded an end to zonal restrictions imposed on the movement of the commodity to keep its prices depressed.
It appears on cards that new political combinations may take shape before the country goes to the mid-term election sometime in the second half of next year. The purpose of the non-B.J.P. Opposition is not served if Rao immediately goes out of office according to observers. At the same time these parties are keen on being seen at a distance from the prime minister because he has damaged himself too irretrievably in the eyes of Muslims and other religious minorities as also among backward communities on the Mandal issue. In the past Communists and even Janata Dal leaders did not mind making common cause with Rao and his party on the question of “communalism” No wonder the C.P.(M) politburo for the first time wanted to be seen as critic of the prime minister.
The party general secretary Harkishen Singh Surjeet met Rao on the latter’s initiative to tell him that he should resign as prime minister. But interestingly Surjeet was not allowed to meet Rao alone. He was accompanied by West Bengal chief minister Jyoti Basu.
Article extracted from this publication >> December 30, 1992
