EDITORIAL

Ayodhya : Don't Bypass Judicial Process

FRESH moves are on with the backing of the Vajpayee government to persuade the Muslims to get the site at Ayodhya handed over for the construction of a Ram temple.   Renewed efforts by the Sankaracharya of Kanchi, Jayendra Saraswati, to talk to some Muslim leaders  has the full support of the prime minister.  This became evident during the meeting  held to commemorate the 50th anniversary of  Shri Jayendra Saraswati assuming the mantle of Sankaracharya.  Vajpayee, addressing this meeting, called for  talks to settle the dispute without the involvement of political parties and hypocritically stated the  matter can be resolved if it is freed from politics.    After his party having joined the VHP bandwagon in 1989 to build a Ram temple where the Babri Masjid stood, one can only wonder at the sheer effrontery of  the prime minister asking that politics be kept away from the issue.

The BJP had recently assured the RSS during its three-day conclave in Delhi that it would help the VHP in its aim to build temple movement.  After the excavation episode failed to produce even an iota of evidence that a temple structure  existed before  the Masjid were built, the BJP is now banking upon the Sankaracharya's negotiating  skills. 

That Shri Jayendra Saraswati is working for getting a Ram temple built at the site where the Babri Masjid stood is not a secret.  He himself has declared that it is his long-cherished aim. The Sankaracharya himself told the media that a honourable agreement is possible between the leaders of the two faiths, so that a Ram temple could come up.  His proposal boils down to the Muslims handing over the site to the Hindus for building the temple.   In return, the Muslims would be assured that the disputes on Kashi and Mathura would not be raised and they would be permitted to offer namaz in over a hundred mosques which are now under the control of the Archaeological Survey of India.  The  Sankaracharya's efforts had been directed at persuading certain individuals  belonging to the All India Muslim Personal Law Board.  In doing so, the Sankaracharya  is acting as the chosen agent of the BJP-RSS combine.  

Shri Jayendra Saraswati told the media on June 13 that the solution to the Ayodhya dispute should be reached in two/three months, if the centre, the Muslim groups and he alone are allowed to continue  the discussions without any outside interference. 

This effort, like the previous one last year, by the Sankaracharya is meant to bypass the judicial process which is now going on with the title deed case before the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court. 

The RSS and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad have raised a new demand that aside from the negotiated settlement or the judicial verdict, there has to be a third way, which is a legislation to hand over the Ayodhya site for temple construction.  The BJP, without discarding the stand taken by the Vajpayee government, is also supporting this move.  It has asked its MPs to sign a petition prepared by the VHP demanding such a law.  Such a legislation cannot pass in Parliament without the support of the non-BJP parties.  But the support to the petition is meant to prove the BJP's bonafides on the temple issue. 

The VHP is increasingly getting frustrated with the failure of the Vajpayee government to make progress in the temple issue.  That explains its recent outburst against the government and its hardline stand that it is not prepared to give up the claim on Kashi and Mathura as part of any negotiated settlement.  For Vajpayee, Advani and company, having ridden the VHP tiger to come to power, they are finding it difficult to convince its fanatical followers  that it is constrained by the BJP's lack of  majority, on its own, in Parliament. 

The Ayodhya issue cannot be resolved by an ambitious and scheming Sankaracharya, or, the blackmail and threats of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad. The Vajpayee government has to realise that with the demolition of the Babri Masjid in 1992, the Indian State can retain its credibility and its secular character, only, if the matter is resolved through a judicial  verdict.

Any attempt to bypass the judicial process has to be resolutely checked.