NEW DELHI: The Narasimha Rao Government is once again in a dilemma: to ban or not to ban Bharatiya Janata Party’s proposed rally in Delhi on February 25. The Cabinet met on Feb.9, within 24 hours of a series of meetings between the Home Minister, S.B.Chavan, and leaders of non BJP opposition parties. It failed to arrive at any decision. ‘The ruling party was in search of a balance between firm administrative action and political exigencies, It did not want to concede political mileage to the BJP by straightaway banning the rally, At the same time, it did not want to draw the flak it did following the demolition of the disputed structure in Ayodhya on December 6. Having burn this fingers once, the Government was not inclined to take BJP’s claim that the rally would be peaceful.
Article extracted from this publication >> February 12, 1993
