Ayodhya plunged India into a searing crisis that destabilised the nation for over a decade. Now Umesh Anand in The Times of India reports that as far back as October 13, 1990, Ram Jethmalani had written to Advani trying to dissuade him from his Ayodhya enterprise. Apart from demolishing all legal arguments justifying forcible occupation of the mosque, Jethmalani wrote: "I will have to bow my head in shame, if the mosque is now forcibly brought down."
This was written two years before the mosque was actually brought down. In response to the ToI writer's query, Jethmalani made it clear that he was not "a prophet" to have foreseen the demolition. The conclusion is inescapable. The demolition of the mosque had been discussed within Advani's circle. The demolition therefore was premeditated and cold-blooded. Advani's expression of regret before the Liberhan Commission may therefore be dismissed as hypocritical.Over a decade later, let us consider what happened in Gujarat. At first, the government blamed the ISI for the Godhra carnage. Had that been true, what would have been ISI's motive? Obviously, to instigate riots. Instead of averting this possibility, how did the Gujarat government react?
According to Coomi Kapoor in The Indian Express, official intelligence agencies had reported to the central government how Gujarat's tourism minister, Prabhatsinh Chauhan, had contacted villages to instigate riots. It is further learnt that the agencies provided the names of the village leaders contacted as well as the number of the car used by the minister for this operation. The home ministry apprised the chief minister. The CM took no action against the minister. The conclusion once again therefore is inescapable. Law and order broke down in Gujarat because the government itself was colluding with rioters. Yet the Gujarat government was not dismissed.
Prime Minister Vajpayee has never hid his admiration for Pandit Nehru. During the war with China in 1962, critics gave an ultimatum to Nehru: "Krishna Menon must go, or you will have to go." Nehru dumped Menon.
Today Vajpayee needs to be told: "Sack Advani, sack Modi, ban VHP, or you must go." Will Vajpayee dare dump Advani?
The world is changed
But we are the same,
The system's deranged
And we live in shame!
