By Suneet Vir Singh

Jai Sia Ram, Kar Sevashuru, Mandir wahin banayenge... Diwali again in Jaipur... Bhopal drenched in Ram's devotion... People's will prevails...

The frenzied jubilation in the Hindi press at the 'historic' entry of karsevaks into the disputed shrine in Ayodhya is unbelievable. It must have been like this when freedom came at midnight. Rajasthan Patrika, Dainik Jagran, Aj, Nav Bharat, Ranchi Express, the Hindi belt's leading dailies carry ecstatic headlines reporting the kar sevak's defiance of Mr. Mulayam Singh Yadav's strong arm tactics. And if there was bloodshed it was all the fault of the 'stubborn' chief minister and 'weak' Prime Minister who set out to defy the will of the people.

For weeks the press in Uttar Pradesh had been waiting with breathless excitement for D-day in Ayodhya. There were innumerable news reports on how Ram's Ayodhya had been converted into a fortress. To unmask the tyranny of the Yadav regime, Dainik Jagran's front page carried a colour photograph of a Sadhu wounded by the police while trying to get to the holy city. He lay on a hospital bed shackled in thick chains. Far more disturbing than the glorification of Ram bhakts under arrest, was the unabashed attempt to incite the police to lay down arms and join the kar seva. On the eve of the storming of Ayodhya, Aj openly warned Mr. V.P. Singh and Mr. Mulayam Singh Yadav that the 'enforced calm at the point of bayonets could lead to bagawat' (revolt).

Beyond the Hindi belt, there is no emotional involvement with the disputed shrine and hardly any mention of Mr. Yadav's atrocities against the Ram bhakts.

(Source: The Times of India, New Delhi)