The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Tuesday, December 12, 2000,
Chandigarh, India

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Govt fishing for face-saver
From T.R. Ramachandran
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, DEC 11— Lok Sabha Speaker G.M.C. Balayogi is awaiting a formal communication from the National Democratic Alliance Government about Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s willingness to make a suo motu statement in Parliament on the Ayodhya issue.

“The House of the People can take cognisance of the Prime Minister’s readiness to make a statement only on receipt of such a communication in writing from the government,” sources in the Lok Sabha secretariat said.

“We have nothing till this evening to even remotely suggest that the Leader of the Lok Sabha is desirous of making a suo motu statement on the Ayodhya issue except for the Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pramod Mahajan’s statement to the Press,” the sources said. By way of abundant caution they explained “we might receive the government’s communication late at night or early tomorrow morning.”

It is only on receipt of this letter from the Union Government that the Speaker can initiate further action of convening another meeting of the leaders of all political parties and groups in Parliament.

The day witnessed intense confabulations at the official Race Course road residence of the Prime Minister aimed at finding a face-saving device and putting parliamentary work back on the rails. The Opposition with the Congress and the Samajwadi Party in the vanguard want to censure the government on the Ayodhya issue.

In the intense game of political oneupmanship, the ruling NDA is not averse to voting taking place on a discussion in the Lok Sabha but are extremely chary of agreeing to a division in the Rajya Sabha. The NDA has the majority in the Lok Sabha which is not the case in the House of Elders. A defeat in the Rajya Sabha can be highly embarrassing for the Vajpayee Government.

The argument advanced by the Prime Minister’s aides is that Mr Vajpayee should be allowed to clarify the situation through a suo motu statement and if the Opposition is still not satisfied then it can try and put the government on the mat by taking recourse to other rules of procedure for having a discussion in Parliament.

These aides firmly believe that Mr Vajpayee has not really changed his views about the December 2, 1992 carnage in Ayodhya and the subsequent developments. They disagreed with suggestions that his calculated gambit on Ayodhya has misfired resulting in the proceedings of Parliament being stalled for the past six days.

The Speaker in his observation in the forenoon noted that “according to Kaul and Shakdher, a censure motion seeking to drop a minister from the Council of Ministers is inadmissible as the Council of Ministers is collectively responsible to the Lok Sabha.”

Meanwhile, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu’s TDP is categoric that the Prime Minister should reaffirm in unambiguous terms that secularism is the bedrock of the country’s polity. Mr Naidu, who is liaising closely with Union Railways Minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee, is also emphatic that Mr Vajpayee should remove misgivings by declaring that the Union Government will stand by the verdict of the court in the Ayodhya imbroglio.

The Vajpayee Government will have to contend with the susceptibilities of the TDP which literally holds the lifeline of the NDA. The TDP, with a large tally of 29 members in the Lok Sabha, is supporting the Vajpayee regime from outside and has consistently secured its pound of flesh by armtwisting the NDA Government.

VHP: Ram temple come what may

MATHURA (UP), Dec 11 (PTI) — VHP President Ashok Singhal said today that a Ram Temple would be constructed at the disputed site in Ayodhya irrespective of the support of or opposition by the BJP-led Government at the Centre.

“The Ram Janmabhoomi movement for the construction of a Ram temple at the disputed site has never been dependent on the support of any political outfit and the temple will come up at Ayodhya irrespective of the support of or opposition by the present Union Government,” he said addressing a meeting at ‘Vatsalaya Gram’ on the Mathura-Vrindavan road, about 10 km from here.

He said the “shrine” at Ayodhya was not brought down by explosives as claimed by RSS chief K.S. Sudershan.

JABALPUR: Former BJP president Kushabhau Thakre said here on Sunday night that pressure from NDA alliance partners at the centre had prevented the party from taking decisions on its “pet issues”.

Owing to compulsions of a coalition government, the BJP had maintained silence over the statement made by Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee as the “Ayodhya mission is yet to be completed.”

“Though the BJP is a major constituent in the NDA Government, it could not take a decision on its own, especially on controversial issues”, he said.

“Hand over Ram temple site to Hindus”

NEW DELHI, Dec 11 (UNI) — Asserting that construction of the Ram temple at Ayodhya is the “birth right” of Hindus, the All-India Hindu Mahasabha today demanded that the Ram Janmabhoomi site should be handed over to the community at the earliest.

At a rally held at the Jantar Mantar here, Hindu Mahasabha president Dinesh Chandra Tyagi urged the Vajpayee government to take measures to expedite the judicial process in this regard. He said a special court should be set up for this purpose so that millions of Hindus could realise their dream without inordinate delay.

The rally was organised after a two-day meeting of the national executive of the Mahasabha in the capital.

The Mahasabha chief accused the Bharatiya Janata Party of not doing anything for the welfare of Hindus despite having come to power with the support of the community.

Mr Tyagi later submitted a memorandum to Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee which also demanded that the unilateral ceasefire in Kashmir be ended immediately and Pakistan be declared an enemy country after severing all diplomatic contacts with it.

The Mahasabha also urged the Centre to impose President’s rule in Jammu and Kashmir and Assam and said the Army should be given full control of the two states to stop the ongoing “massacre” of Hindus there.

The Mahasabha demanded total ban on the slaughter of cows and import and export of beef to protect the sanctity of Hindu culture and religion.

Joshi refuses comment on bomb blast theory

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, Dec 11 (UNI) — Senior BJP leader and Union Human Resource Development Minister Murli Manohar Joshi today chose to remain evasive on RSS chief K.S. Sundarshan’s revelation on the Babri masjid demolition, saying that he did not know how the masjid was pulled down as he was not near the scene of occurrence.

Dr Joshi made this remark at a meet-the-Press programme at the Thiruvananthapuram Press Club when asked for his reaction on Mr Sudarshan’s remark that the Babri masjid was not demolished by “kar sevaks” but was devastated by an explosion triggered from inside the masjid.

Asked who pulled down the structure, Dr Joshi said it was for the intelligence, the government agencies and the media to bring out the truth. On how Mr Sudarshan had got such information, he said: “It is he who has to give the information that he has.”

Commenting on the Opposition agitation in Parliament in protest against the statement of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee that the Ram temple would be constructed at the disputed site and the mosque could be constructed at another site, Dr Joshi said the government was ready to discuss any issue if allowed by the Speaker.