Many western governments and political analysts sought to make a distinction between the “fundamentalist B.J.P.” and the “non fundamentalist” Congress1 in the wake of the destruction of Babri masjid at Ayodhya on December 6 and practically lent their weight behind Indian Prime Minister Narasimha Rao. The World Sikh News, on the other hand, made no such distinction and had been consistently maintaining that Rao himself was a Hindu fundamentalist and that he deliberately allowed the “R.S.S family” to bring about the “final solution” to the Ayodhya problem by decimating the Muslim shrine. Subsequent events have tended to uphold rather than contradicting our stand. The Indian state in the first instance pounced upon Muslims protesting against the Babri demolition and killed more than 2000 of them in waves of police violence. When there were widespread protests worldwide, Rao talked of rebuilding the mosque. But in practice nothing was done all these months. At the recent Surajkund session of the ruling party, Rao mentioned only the Hindu mandir and not the Muslim shrine. No wonder, All India Muslim Personal Law Board, which speaks for the community on socio religious matters, asked the prime minister early this week to abandon all efforts to rebuild the masjid except for at the site of the demolished shrine. The board members opposed the government’s proposals on the issue including a reference to the Indian Supreme Court All said and done; there is wide gap between the Muslim stand and the Hindu fundamentalist Rao’s policy. Meanwhile, Blitz, a Bombay weekly, last week claimed that there was a secret understanding between Rao and the B.J.P. on the Babri issue and that as a result of this compromised India would go in for a midterm poll in June this year. To cap these disclosures the R.S.S. family talked of “secret written and unwritten assurances” given to it by the prime minister. The“R.S.S.
Family” issued a “white paper” early this week to claim that Rao had told the VH.P.led Hindu holy men in July, prior to the demolition of the masjid, that he conceded in principle their demand for the construction of the Ram temple at the site of the “shilanayas.” The Sangh family’s document seeks to rebut the prime minister’s statement that he had been betrayed by the Sangh family by demolishing the Babri masjid, It is obvious from these developments that Rao is planning to use his fundamentalist stand to attract Hindu voters in the same way as the late Rajiv Gandhi had used the Hindu card to win an unprecedented majority in Indian parliament in 1985. In this race between R.S.S. family and the Rao family, the Indian minorities have moved away from both these parties. The western governments in the circumstances are well advised to reassess their positions and not be carried away by the clever Rao tactics to hide his real fundamentalist face.
Article extracted from this publication >> April 9, 1993
