Author: Editorial
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: May 5, 2006
Congress panders to fanatics ---- The Supreme
Court's stay order on Thursday, putting on hold further demolition of illegal
structures described as "places of worship", may have fetched a
temporary reprieve for fanatics in Vadodara who have nothing but contempt
for authority. But it must not be construed as a success for the UPA Government,
especially the Congress, which has seized upon the lawlessness unleashed by
hoodlums to revive memories of the post-Godhra violence and, true to form,
has rushed to fish in troubled waters.
In brief, by pandering to the law-breakers
pretending great agony over the demolition of a structure whose antiquity
is of amazing elasticity and which stood in the way of urban renewal, the
Congress has once again put on display its policy of brazen minority appeasement.
No less disquieting is the willingness with which sections of the media, have
made available their services to broadcast disinformation and inflammatory
footage; worse, inventive lies have been put out as fact without any consideration
for the truth or the potential repercussion of such propaganda.
That swift and decisive action by Gujarat
Chief Minister Narendra Modi has prevented the violence from escalating appears
to have come as a dampener for both the Congress and its hand-maidens. The
demolition drive in Vadodara, it merits reiteration, is not an anti-Muslim
programme as it has been made out to be. The municipal corporation was forced
to act on the basis of a Gujarat High Court order that wanted all illegal
structures on public land, including 12,000 alleged temples and 269 so-called
Islamic shrines, to be removed. That order has been reiterated by the High
Court on May 4.
It would also be in order to put on record
that till now 42 'temples' have been demolished. Three Islamic 'shrines' were
pulled down without any resistance; by the time the civic authorities reached
the dargah, fanatics had organised enough muscle power to indulge in hooliganism.
They attacked security personnel, knifed two innocent Hindus and ran riot;
two of them were killed when the police retaliated. But this was enough for
the Congress, unperturbed by the demolition of 42 Hindu places of worship,
to step in and cry foul.
In total disregard of a State's rights, Union
Minister of State for Home Sri Prakash Jaiswal was despatched to Vadodara
while every attempt was made to show the administration as the villain of
the piece. The violence unleashed by those who claim to have been hurt by
the demolition of the dargah has been slyly overlooked, as has been the fact
that those who rioted on the streets also tried to attack the courts and beat
up lawyers. To support such thuggery is akin to participating in the loot
and arson that was witnessed for 72 hours.
That the UPA Government has chosen to contest
a district administration's action, endorsed by the High Court, against encroachment
on public land and illegal structures simply because this may win Muslim votes
for the Congress speaks volumes about those who hold office in the present
regime. Tragically, those who have rushed in to declare solidarity with the
rioters of Vadodara have not bothered to spare a thought about the victims
and the survivors of this week's massacres in Jammu. The reason for this callous
indifference is not too difficult to locate.