The Hindu : Left parties criticise BJP, Kanchi Acharya

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jun 20, 2003

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National

Left parties criticise BJP, Kanchi Acharya

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI JUNE 19. Two Left parties reacted strongly to the latest moves on Ayodhya temple issue, with the CPI (M) stating that the dispute cannot be resolved by an "ambitious and scheming'' Sankaracharya, while the CPI (ML) demanding restoration of the mosque at the site.

Referring to the "renewed efforts'' by the Kanchi Sankaracharya, Sri Jayendra Saraswati, the CPI (M) said this had the full support of the Prime Minister and that the Acharya was working to get a Ram temple built at "the site where the Babri masjid stood is not a secret''.

"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," the editorial in the latest issue of CPI (M) organ People's Democracy said.

Commenting on the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee's statement that Ayodhya issue could be resolved if it was freed from politics, the editorial said that after the BJP "had joined the Vishwa Hindu Parishad 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''.

It said that the BJP recently assured the RSS 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 skill''.

The effort, like the previous one last year by the Sankaracharya was meant to "bypass the judicial process" which was going on.

Turning to demand by the RSS and the VHP that the disputed site be handed over through a legislation, the CPI (M) noted that the BJP was supporting the move without discarding the stand taken by the Vajpayee Government.

It said that the VHP was increasingly getting "frustrated with the failure'' of the Vajpayee Government to make progress in the temple issue and that explained its latest outburst against the Government and the hardline stance that it was not prepared to give up its claim on Kashi and Mathura.

In a separate statement, the CPI (ML) expressed serious concern over the attempts in the "highest echelons" of power to strike a "secret deal". The party general secretary charged that the Sangh Parivar outfits were engaged in "weaving a web of confusion" over the issue, including the demand for legislation.

Stating that the ASI team had yet to produce anything that could even remotely be described as a proof of a temple predating the mosque, the CPI (ML) suggested that natural justice therefore demanded restoration of the mosque at the site of the demolished Babri masjid.

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