Author: Javed M. Ansari
Publication: The Hindu
Date: May 6, 2003
URL: http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/2003/05/06/stories/2003050605520100.htm
The decision of the A.K. Antony-led
Congress Government in Kerala to allow the Vishwa Hindu Parishad to conduct
"trishul diksha" ceremonies in the State is fast becoming an embarrassment
for the party. Mr. Antony's decision not to ban the trident distribution
ceremony in Kochi raised several eyebrows both inside and outside the party.
It also led to questions being asked about the lack of consistency in the
party's stand on the issue.
The Congress media managers today
had a difficult time trying to defend Mr. Antony's position.
Their embarrassment was made even
more acute by the fact that the party spokesperson, Satyavrat Chaturvedi,
had just finished lambasting the BJP for allowing the VHP leader, Praveen
Togadia, to distribute tridents "right under the nose of the Central Government"
in New Delhi.
Mr. Chaturvedi sought to defend
Mr. Antony on the ground that "each Chief Minister" was free to assess
the situation in their respective States and take appropriate action.
That, however, did little to hide
the dichotomy between the "no-nonsense approach" of the Central leadership
and some of the State Governments such as Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan
and the position adopted by the Kerala Chief Minister.
On Friday last, the Delhi Chief
Minister, Sheila Dixit, had shot off a letter to the Lt. Governor, Vijay
Kapoor, suggesting that he ban the VHP's trident distribution programme.
"The trident distribution ceremony
poses a grave threat to social amity, and if law and order was under the
Delhi Government's purview, I would have banned it," she said.
This is not the first occasion that
Mr. Antony has taken a position that is different from the party's central
leadership on the issue of Hindutva.
While the central leadership and
most Congress State Governments favour a proactive approach towards communal
forces, Mr. Antony appears to favour the soft approach.
Sometime ago, he had also objected
to the party using the terms "saffron brigade" and "saffronisation" to
describe the Sangh Parivar and its activities.
The Kerala leader's perception on
the VHP's trident campaign and Hindutva seems to differ from that of the
Congress high command.
