The Hindu : National : Govindacharya blames BJP leaders for masjid demolition

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Feb 09, 2005

National

National

Govindacharya blames BJP leaders for masjid demolition

VARANASI, FEB. 8. K.N. Govindacharya, Bharatiya Janata Party ideologue, today accused the party leadership of being responsible for the demolition of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya and said the saffron leaders on that day "failed" to read the mind of the kar sevaks assembled there.

"The BJP leaders had failed to read the mind of the over one lakh kar sevaks who were emotionally charged with the intention to demolish the structure on the fateful day of December 6, 1992," Mr. Govindacharya told reporters here without naming the leaders.

"The BJP leaders also failed to control the situation near the disputed site at Ayodhya by making an appeal to the mob to disperse from there and not demolish the structure,'' he said.

``The BJP leaders could have mobilised its 6000-strong cadre, present in Ayodhya then, to control the mob by dispersing them to avoid the eventual demolition of the mosque," said Mr. Govindacharya who has been on a sabbatical from the BJP for the last five years after his reported description of former Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee as the party's liberal "mask."

"The eventful outcome not only reflected the failure of the saffron leadership present there to gauge the mood of the kar sevaks but also its lack of vision to utilise the cadres in controlling and dispersing the mob,'' he added.

Contradiction

"The demolition of the Babri Mosque in Ayodhya was a glaring example of contradiction between cadre-based and mass-based politics and the failure of the BJP leadership's understanding to work out a balance between the two brands of politics," Mr. Govindacharya said.

Referring to his own stand on the Ayodhya agitation vis-a-vis the demolition of the structure, he said "such happenings [demolition of the mosque] need to be neither condemned nor condoned. But at the same time, there are lessons to be learnt for all," he added.

"The pseudo-secularists should understand that the politics of minorities and appeasement policies would lead to incidents like December 6," he said.

``The politics of minoritism had taken its toll and the Ayodhya incident is a reflection of the precipitation of minority politics," he said. — PTI

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