Attack on pluralism

If we take the first possibility, the normal reaction would be to tighten the security and improve the intelligence apparatus to foil such occurrences. New Delhi has done that and has re-alerted the states. Still a high-level inquiry is needed to know all about the attack. There is no doubting that the Congress-ruled Centre and the Mulayam Singh Yadav-ruled Uttar Pradesh, which have been jointly asked by the Supreme Court to protect the complex till the disposal of the case, were not as vigilant as the situation demanded. It has been officially announced that the Centre had warned that religious places in the country could be attacked.

The second assumption is more credible, because despite many attempts in the last eight-ten years, no communal disturbance of consequence has taken place. Apparently, this is not to the liking of the Sangh parivar which thrives in an atmosphere where it can arouse suspicion against the Muslim community and where the Hindus look under siege in their own country. It is unfortunate, but the reaction of the parivar has been on these lines.

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The parivar has interpreted the terrorist attack as an attack on Hinduism. (I was amused to see Jaswant Singh saying so because he is supposed to be sober). Strange, the five terrorists who were killed even after piercing through the first barricade should have posed a threat to the entire Hindu community of more than 800 millions. But then the parivar has to exaggerate things. Its agenda is different. It wants a Hindu rashtra instead of the plural society we have. The parivar believes that it is a godsend opportunity to reinforce its Hindutva stance and wants to exploit it to the hilt. Little does it realise that the Hindus by and large voted against the BJP in the last general elections for having tried to saffronise the society. The mood in the country is different. The parivar has not been able to sell the mandir despite its several attempts.

The manner in which the militants' attack was decimated in no time shows that if the government is determined to deal with a situation, it cannot go out of hand. This was in contrast to the BJP government under Kalyan Singh, who was at the back of the masjid's demolition. Top BJP leaders watched the destruction with glee. A photo of Uma Bharti riding the shoulders of Murli Manohar Joshi is a testimony to the BJP's doing. L.K. Advani called on the crowd then to throw burning tyres on the road to stall the central forces which, in any case, did not act. Then Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao was a "reluctant partner" at the Centre.

The intention of RSS is clear. It wants to have the maximum political mileage out of the attack and does not seem to mind any fallout, even violence. That is the reason why it has entrusted the job of agitation to the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), the parivar's militant group. Within an hour Praveen Tagodia announced a countrywide bandh for a week. A few incidents of disturbances have already taken place. At present the BJP has preferred to state its protest at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi, not at the complex in Ayodhya. However, one doesn't know whether at some stage Advani may have another yatra to reprove his credentials.

Narendra Modi, as he is, has announced Rs 10 lakh as compensation to every injured jawan at Ayodhya. He should be spending the money on the rehabilitation of thousands of people hit by the floods in the state.

The Gujarat riot victims are far from settled. He needs every penny. Worse, he is setting new precedents. He could have sent money to chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav or, still better, to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The BJP-ruled states have been behaving since their defeat at the polls, as if they are a category by themselves, ruled by Nagpur and not New Delhi.

The incident does, however, underline the importance of a settlement at Ayodhya. The case has been going on for years and the end is nowhere near. Even the Liberhan commission, appointed 14 years ago to find out the gamut of the demolition of the mosque, is still continuing with limitless extensions. It suits the Sangh parivar to keep the pot boiling because the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri masjid dispute is its main plank.

But what is not understandable is why the non-BJP parties in the NDA are playing into the hands of the parivar? The stake is pluralism and more. The parivar does not realise that the foundation of the democratic structure is laid on the foundation of secularism.

Once that is weakened, the entire edifice may come crumbling down. The parivar expects the Hindu rashtra emerging from the ruins.

Like Mohammad Ali Jinnah's famous speech of August 11, where he foresaw Pakistan as a secular country, Jawaharlal Nehru's speech on December 13, 1947, at the Allahabad University was equally significant. He said:

"We aim at a strong, free and democratic India where commu-nalism, isolation, untouchability, bigotry, and exploitation of man by man have no place, and, while religion is free, it is not allowed to interfere with the political and economic aspects of a nation's life. All this business of Hindu and Muslim and Christian and Sikh must cease so far as our political life is concerned, and we must build a united but composite nation where both individual and national freedoms are secure."

Islamabad's quick condemnation of the attack was welcome. So was the statement by Hizbul Mujahideen which characterised it as "anti-Hindu and anti-Muslim." However, it is unfortunate that the Lakshar-e-Toiba, which is a suspect in the terrorist act, continues to have its headquarters in Pakistan.

According to Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee, the terrorist camps are still intact in Pakistan; the infiltration has decreased because of India's vigilance, not by any Pakistani action.

Assurances by New Delhi and Islamabad that the peace process will continue indicate the confidence which the two sides have developed in each other. The redeeming factor is that both Manmohan Singh and President General Pervez Musharraf have hit it off well. They can take care of the fallout from incidents like the one at Ayodhya. However, the disconcerting part is that Islamabad does not want to proceed on the confidence building measures until Kashmir is sorted out. This is like waiting for the cows to return home.

Kuldip Nayar is an eminent Indian columnist.