NEW DELHI: The concept of yatras was widely believed to have emerged as the “unique selling proposition” (USP) of the BJP but the way the ekta yatra of Dr. Murti Manohar Joshi ended in Srinagar has led to rethinking in certain quarters within the Sangh parivar over adopting such a program in the future. Outwardly of course anybody willing to listen i told of the “tremendous impact” the yatra has had.
Quite a few of the volunteers who: accompanied the yatra in the last leg from Jammu were derisive of the manner in which Dr. Joshi led them up the garden path and left them stranded after whipping up passions considerably.
Not only the members of the “kesaria Vahini” raised for the purpose several prominent members of the BJP VHP and the RSS are discussing the mixed fallout of the Ekta Yatra. A VHP leader is credited with the view that the Ekta Yatra demonstrated the limitations of Dr. Joshis leadership.
“The yatra may have ended in a whimper according to a certain viewpoint but the fact remains that it has had a tremendous impact on the security forces deployed in the difficult conditions in Kashmir If the token hoisting of the flag was not done in Lal Chowk it would have affected the morale of the forces” the convener of the yatra Narendra Modi said.
He claimed that the BIP never thought of deriving political mileage out of the yatra. The only thing that was aimed at was to prove how difficult it was to unfurl the national flag in the hotbed of terrorism. This he said had been fully achieved by Dr. Joshi. The leadership knew it all along that 50000 yatris would not be able to reach Srinagar Modi further claimed.
The fact that thousands assembled in Jammu even after it was made clear to the volunteers that only those who were prepared to die should reach there made it a historic occasion a VHP leader said but felt that Dr. Joshi compromised by agreeing to avail of official help to reach Srinagar “If the Prime Minister was requested for such help even at the beginning of the yatra it would have been provided what is the rationale behind traversing the entire distance from Kanyakumari and then accepting official support at the last moment” he wondered it would have been better many el within the BIP-VHP-RSS if Dr. Joshi had insisted on not judging an inch beyond Jammu without the thousands who had gathered there. This would have put considerable pressure on the government and made it think in terms of scrapping Article 370 which has been a major demand of the party a BIP leader requesting anonymity said. “It has not been a victory for us since government support was taken” he added.
It is openly being discussed whether government support would have been accepted had the kaa Yatra been led by the senior party leader L.K Advani known for his hard-line stance. “There was much more pressure on Advani o stop ins racks when he set off on his Rath Yatra but he had refused to succumb to it On the contrary Dr Joshi is seen to have compromised by not taking the Ekta Yatra to its logical conclusion the token flag-hoisting not withstanding “a VHP leader remarked.
At the same time satisfaction is also being expressed within the “RSS parivar” on the impact the yatra has had on the security forces the highlighting of the ground situation in Kashmir and the perceived driving of a wedge between P.V Narasimha Rao and the Union home minister S.B.Chavan. The former in the reckoning of the RSS had adopted favorable posture towards the yatra while Chavan and Arjun Singh Union minister for human resources development had gone hammer and tongs against it has now been disclosed that all arrangements for the yatra were supervised and masterminded by RSS pracharaks and nine groups of youths who were prepared to die if it came to a confrontation with the militants had reached Srinagar several days in advance. Some of them had masqueraded.as Muslims Sikhs and businessmen and had taken up their pre-destined positions in order to unfurl the flag should Dr Joshi not make it to Lal Chowk.
The yatra has established that the BJP is the only party which speaks in terms of national unity and advocates national issues. Also it is clear that no other party has the strength to undertake such a massive program. The yatra has now linked Kashmir and Ayodhya as national issues that require being functionary in the RSS set-up here told the TOINS.
Narendra Modi stating that it was not possible to reach Srinagar along with 50000 volunteers exposed the party known for speaking in one voice and clarity to the charge of contradicting itself. Advani had state categorically before the yatra left Delhi for Jammu that the BJP was not interested in tokenism, but things turned out quite the reverse another senior BIP leader admitted at Jammu itself at the height of frustration among the volunteers that it was wrong to have overemphasized reaching Srinagar by road.
“The BIPs yatra might have: forged the ekta of the militants” a party member remarked cryptically.
Article extracted from this publication >> February 14, 1992
