POLITICS-INDIA: Premier under Pressure from Hindu Fundamentalists

By Ranjit Devraj Reprint | | Print |

Ranjit Devraj

NEW DELHI, Oct 22 2001 (IPS) - û Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, often called the moderate face of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) that leads the country’s ruling 20-party coalition, has come under severe criticism from hawks within his pro-Hindu party.

When Vajpayee arrived late for the launch in the capital Sunday of the party’s 50th anniversary celebrations, many said it was deliberate and designed to send a message that there were differences between the party and the multi-party coalition it leads.

Not only did Vajpayee leave the flag-raising to party officials but he complained in his address to partymates that the BJP, which served the role of an opposition party until catapulted to power toward the close of the last millennium, lacked administrative experience.

“We have no experience of being in power,” Vajpayee said, referring to the poor showing by his government after the coalition won elections in 1999.

That victory was attributed in part to a fundamentalist wave generated largely by whipping up Hindu sentiments over the rebuilding a temple said to have been demolished by 17th century Muslim invaders.

Vajpayee’s Home Minister Lal Krishna Advani was candid enough to admit that the party gained electoral success over the monolithic Congress Party, which ruled India for most of the 54 years since independence from British colonial rule, only because of the popularity of the temple issue.

“If we had not taken up the Ram Janmabhoomi (temple) issue as a symbol of cultural nationalism, we would not have progressed so much,” Advani said, referring to the campaign whose highlight was the destruction by fanatics of a tri-domed mediaeval mosque at the disputed site.

Advani appeared to defend the forced entry last week by activists of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (World Hindu Body) or VHP into the heavily guarded site at Ayodhya in northern Uttar Pradesh state, where the mosque stood until the demolition in 1992.

The VHP, which is closely linked to the BJP, has announced its intention to go ahead with the construction of the temple by March 2002 in spite of the fact that the Supreme Court has ordered a status-quo situation at the site.

When Vajpayee sought to explain the intrusion as a “security lapse”, he was caught between party members who said he was not supporting the temple campaign enough and from liberals for giving in to the VHP, which has announced that it did not care for the Supreme Court order.

The temple issue is of immediate importance to the BJP in retaining hold over India’s largest state of Uttar Pradesh, whose 170 million people will elect a new provincial assembly in elections early next year.

On the other hand, the BJP’s coalition partners are wary of the temple issue and have warned that they would in no way support the building of temple without a consensus on it. Many are in the coalition only because of the moderateness projected by Vajpayee.

‘The Hindu’ newspaper commented in an editorial that it would not do to “trot out the much-too-facile explanation, ‘security lapse’, as the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee, has chosen to do. The very fact that the intruders could make their way into the sanctum means there has been a breach of security.”

To add to its problems, in recent times the party has slipped in popularity ratings due to factors ranging from India’s rapidly deccelerating economy, a defence purchase scandal and the exposure of a massive security scam involving a government-run mutual fund.

Vajpayee’s attempt to defuse the Kashmir issue by inviting Pakistan President Gen Pervez Musharraf for a summit in July at Agra city failed miserably and insurgent violence, believed to be supported covertly by Islamabad, has only worsened in the disputed territory.

In contrast to Vajpayee, Advani, who is seen as a potential successor, has advocated a harder line against Pakistan. Last week, he openly denounced U.S. efforts to turn it into a frontline ally in the war against Afghanistan.

Advani has demanded that the United States ensure “that those who are part of this war against terrorism are themselves not guilty of providing a safe haven to terrorists, hijackers and organizers of terrorist camps”.

“We have given to Interpol a long list of people who have been guilty of terrorist actions in India. . . some of whom have been provided asylum in Pakistan. Now there are obvious implications,” he said.