Worried allies get together as BJP
fails to rein in Sangh Parivar
George Iype in New Delhi
Sensing the Bharatiya Janata Party leadership's failure to curb the anti-minority campaign of some outfits of the Sangh Parivar, some coalition partners have decided to step in and help Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee out.
Key allies like the Samata Party, Shiromani Akali Dal, Biju Janata Dal, and Lok Shakti have met informally several times in the last two weeks to discuss the attacks on Christians in Gujarat and debate how they are tarnishing the government's image.
The prime minister's trusted lieutenants like Defence Minister George Fernandes, Chemicals and Fertilisers Minister Surjit Singh Barnala, Steel and Mines Minister Naveen Patnaik, and Commerce Minister Ramakrishna Hegde sat together last week to take stock of the coalition's anti-minority image.
One Biju Janata Dal politician disclosed that Fernandes and Hedge have been entrusted with the task of talking to two other senior partners of the BJP, All-India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam general secretary J Jayalalitha and Trinamul Congress president Mamata Banerjee, on the matter.
"Before the Budget session of Parliament in February, we want the prime minister to convene the coalition co-ordination committee to discuss the anti-minority campaign of the Sangh Parivar and the resultant communal disturbances in the country," he told Rediff On The NeT.
He said it is time the prime minister issued a statement on the secular character of his government. "We want to ensure that the government's policies and programmes are for the uplift and empowerment of the minorities and other backward communities in India," the BJD politician said.
The allies also want Vajpayee and the BJP leadership to ensure that an important member of the coalition like the Shiv Sena is not allowed to embark on a collision course with the government. The Sena has been threatening to disrupt the forthcomingIndia-Pakistan cricket Test series scheduled to begin next week.
According to a senior Samata Party politician who requested anonymity, though the government has not taken any anti-minority steps in the past 10 months, an impression is gaining ground that the coalition is not serious about fighting the communal elements.
"We are confident that the prime minister is not a prisoner of the Sangh Parivar groups. But we also want to ensure that the belligerent anti-minority campaign by outfits like the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Hindu Jagran Manch does not affect the coalition," she told Rediff On The NeT.
She said the Samata Party and other allies have already requested the prime minister and the BJP leadership to either dissociate from groups like the VHP or chalk out a mechanism to rein them in.
Many believe Vajpayee's statement on Sunday ruling out amendment of the Constitution to ban religious conversions was meant to pacify his worried partners. The Sangh Parivar had submitted a proposal to the Union home ministry to ban conversions.
Vajpayee is likely to soon call a meeting of the co-ordination committee to reassure his allies that the government has nothing to do with the Sangh Parivar's plans and policies. But the allies' plan to initiate and dictate a minority agenda for the Vajpayee government could upset the BJP leadership.
According to BJP vice-president Jai Prakash Mathur, no alliance partner has so far complained to his party's leadership that the government is pursuing an anti-minority line. "We do not think our allies need to be worried about the image of the government. The prime minister himself has asserted a number of times that the government does not pursue the statements and agenda of some organisations," Mathur told Rediff On The NeT.
He blamed the Opposition parties led by the Congress and the Left of trying to take up the sporadic incidents in Gujarat as "big national issues because they have nothing else to do". "We want to assure our allies that it is not the Vajpayee government but the Opposition parties which have been exposed on the issue," Mathur claimed.
The BJP vice-president added that the party leadership and the government have succeeded considerably in the past 10 months to protect the rights of the minorities and safeguard secularism.
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