Shahabuddin's Letter to Advani, 5 July, 2000

May I draw your attention to the training in firearms, which is being given by the Bajrang Dal (BD) to select cadre in Ayodhya? The Bajrang Dal, according to its leaders, is planning to open twenty-five such camps, which will train their cadre, to assist the Government in maintaining internal security. However, training in Ayodhya has already created a sense of apprehension in the small Muslim community there. Understanding fully well the role BD played not only in mobilizing the Karsevaks but also in training them for demolishing the Masjid, desecrating the graveyards and Mazars and generally harassing the Muslim community, I would request you to kindly examine whether such training in martial arts and firearms attracts the law. If it does not and the Government have permitted the BD to act as the second line of security, despite its obvious implications for the minority communities, the latter may also feel inclined to organize similar training for their youth.

The questions that arise are whether the State should share its authority and responsibility with private groups and whether the State is going to encourage confrontation between such rival groups which may plunge the country into a virtual civil war. I am aware of your views about the BD, notwithstanding its known role in many places. Yet I request you to kindly consider the questions I have placed before you in their proper perspective and formulate a considered view on such dangerous initiatives by private militant organizations.

Bajrang Belligerence

Editorial, The Hindustan Times, 22 June, 2000

There have been reports about the (Bajrang Dal) imparting arms training to its members in a camp near  Ayodhya. More objectionable than the training itself is the purpose for it as expounded by the Bajrang Dal's national convenor. According to him, it is meant to counter the "growing activities of ISI agents and anti-social elements in the country". The chief of the VHP in UP has been more forthcoming. His explanation is that the training is directed against "anti-Hindu forces" ... An arms training programme underlines the dangerous possibility of the diatribes degenerating into open violence.

Judicial Verdict Only Option

Shahabuddin to K.S. Sudarshan, 8 July, 2000

We have taken note of your Statement on possible options for settling the Babari Masjid dispute in today's paper. The existing order of the Supreme Court totally bars the first option of any unilateral transfer of any part of the acquired land (including the disputed land and the Babari Masjid site) by the Central Government to anyone for any purpose, until the title suit is decided by the Special Bench of the Allahabad High Court.

The second option is not legally and constitutionally tenable, for any legislation for transfer of the site of a Masjid for the construction of a Mandir will be ultra vires.

The third option is Muslims voluntarily relinquishing claim on the Babari Masjid site. This option is simply not feasible because no Muslim individual or group or organisation has any authority to gift a Masjid, which is, by definition, a Wakf and belongs to Allah.

However, at one stage we did offer to the VHP, before the Masjid was demolished, that if it is proved to the satisfaction of eminent historians that the Babari Masjid was constructed in 1529 on the site of a standing Ram Janamasthan Mandir, after demolishing it, then in view of the association of the site with Shri Ram Chandraji, we would request the Muslim community to agree to its being handed over to the Hindu community. But the offer was not accepted. After the forcible demolition of the Masjid, the question does not arise. The law must take its course.

I would request you, in common interest, to ask the Government to expedite the hearing of the title suit on a day-to-day basis. We once again assure you that the Muslim community shall accept the final judicial verdict. I hope the Hindu community also will, in the interest of national unity and social harmony.

Ambikanand Sahay On Proposed Rath Yatra

If the signals emanating from Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) offices across the country are any indication, the Ganga belt will experience an extremely "hot" winter this year ...

The timing of the proposed chain of events seems equally interesting.

·       The chariot takes off during or after the Navratra in October.

·       The dharma sansad would decide on the date for the launch of construction work at the Kumbh Mela in January.

·       UP assembly elections take place in April.

Incidentally, as of now, the BJP looks like aspent force in Uttar Pradesh. Perhaps the partywould get some much-needed oxygen in the post-rath yatra period prior to the elections. (Source: The Times of India, 11 July, 2000)