NEW DELHI: The Vishwa Hindu Parishad Bharatiya Janata party combine is skeptical that the three-month reprieve sought by Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao to resolve the Ayodhya tangle will bear fruit, Senior BJP leaders said there had been no progress in resolving the dispute though nearly two months had passed since the Prime Minister’s talks with the sadhus and Sants on July 21. On the contrary, the recent visit to Ayodhya of Naresh Chandra, secretary of the special cell set up in the Prime Minister’s Office to examine the dispute had given them the impression that an early solution was neither possible nor likely. The special cell is still collecting and collating the evidence and documents relating to the dispute.

Vice president Kishen Lal Sharma said, “The ball is in the court of the Prime Minister. After all, he has taken the onus upon himself. He had said that “I am neither V.P. Singh nor Chandra Shekhar,” we will wait,

Sharma said that by directly negotiating with the Sants to stop construction activity on the land acquired by the state government, the Prime Minister had assumed full responsibility for resolution of the dispute, He said that now neither the BJP nor even the VHP, is directly in the picture, as neither VHP president V.H. Dalma nor general secretary Ashol Singhal was present in the delegation that met Rao. “Now, it is the Prime Minister versus the Sants,” said Sharma.

Meanwhile, VHP sources said that the Luck now bench of the Allahabad High Court, which is hearing the writ petition challenging acquisition of 2.77 acres of land in the Shri Ram Janma Bhoomi complex in Ayodhya by the Uttar Pradesh government, is likely to give its ruling soon. They said the arguments in the case are expected to conclude soon.

“A lot of problems will be over,” said a VHP activist who declined to be identified as senior leaders of the organization were away. He said once construction begins on the acquired and, the temple becomes inevitable, no one will be able to stop it.”

VHP activists pointed out that even if the High Court ruled that present restraint on construction of a permanent nature would end as over 75% of the land had been purchased by the VHP, whose title to it would be clear. The VHP would then be free to resume construction, if it desired.

On the other hand, if the court upheld the land acquisition, the Stale government’s title would be clear. In that eventually also, the restraint on construction would end and the state government would be free to hand over the land to the VHP or the Ram Janmabhoomi Nvas or itself resume construction,

The VHP-BJP combine is also confident of a favorable decision in the contempt of court Petition pending before the Supreme Court following the Registrar General’s report that the platform constructed on the acquired land was not a permanent structure.

Article extracted from this publication >> October 2, 1992