Other States - Rajasthan   

Haj House issue settlement in sight

Special Correspondent

Sangh Parivar tones down criticism; Party responding positively to situation

JAIPUR: Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje's efforts to settle the controversy over the proposed Haj House in Sanganer near here well before the start of the monsoon session of the Assembly next week have shown some positive results with the Central leadership of her party responding positively to the situation. Vishwa Hindu Parishad, hitherto spitting fire over the issue, too has started speaking in mellowed tones by making a conditional withdrawal of its agitation in protest against the construction of the Haj House.

The party leadership, even while fighting shy of acknowledging that it has a problem on hand, has taken the stand that Ms. Raje did not do anything out of the way by laying the foundation for the Haj House at Ramsinghpura near Sanganer on September 20. The land for the purpose was allocated as back as in 2004 and it was the Muslim community and not the Government that would be constructing the Haj House, the party points out.

The BJP's general secretary in charge of Rajasthan, Kalraj Misra, on Friday refused to concede while talking to journalists that he had come to Rajasthan to settle the issue which had made the Chief Minister the target of attack from a section of the party, led by Education Minister Ghanshyam Tiwari, the Hindutva organisations such as Bajrang Dal and the VHP. "I am in charge of the State. I can come here any time just like that," he said.

It was obvious that the party as such was not so excited about the Haj House project and wanted to get out of it with minimum damage. Mr. Misra even sounded apologetic: "The Chief Minister only laid the foundation stone. The State will have no more role in its construction."

Mr. Misra hinted that the party had approached the VHP for an agreement on the issue. "I talked to VHP leaders. They too agree with the CM," he said. However, he refused to comment on the announcement of VHP general secretary Praveen Togadia that his organisation would continue its agitation. VHP leaders Ashok Singhal, Acharya Giriraj Kishore and Mr.Togadia have been giving varied versions on the Haj House issue after reaching the State capital this week.

Talking to journalists here on Friday, VHP secretary Dharam Narain Sharma put forth the offer of conditional withdrawal of the agitation.

The conditions from the VHP are: there should not be any mosque in the premises of the Haj House; the premises should be accessible to all sections of society; there should be two members from the local Hindu community in the committee monitoring the construction of the Haj House. The Muslim groups as well as the Government are yet to respond to the conditions though the Rajasthan State Haj Committee representatives, even prior to the present controversy, had made it clear that the premises would be open to all.

Meanwhile, Mohammed Mahir Azad, Congress MLA and president of Muslim Progressive Front, has convened a meeting of Muslim intellectuals, retired bureaucrats, judges and leaders of various political parties on October 2 to decide on the action plan for the construction of the Haj House.

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