Quote:RSS rejects Advani’s proposal

Says no to ‘out-of-court settlement’ on Ayodhya dispute

Faraz Ahmad/TNS



New Delhi, August 29

The RSS has categorically rejected the “out-of-court settlement” being suggested by BJP parliamentary party chairman LK Advani and a section of Muslims for the 61-year-old Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid dispute.



Hoping to encash once more on the dispute, some Muslim activists like Jawed Habeeb, former convener of the All-India Babri Masjid Action Committee (AIBMC), were now active again, said former Rajya Sabha member Waseem Ahmad while reacting to a letter by Habeeb to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh asking for involving Advani in an out-of-court settlement.



Waseem said: “If there is anyone who has been faithfully following the whole thing even now, it is only Zafaryab Jilani who has been fighting these cases in various courts as well as the title suit in the Allahabad High Court.”



Waseem’s contention was borne out by RSS spokesman Ram Madhav who mentioned Jilani as a lone member of the Muslim community who is still involved in this dispute in some capacity.



Contrary to the prevalent perception, Ram Madhav said Jilani had already stated “if the verdict goes against us, we will approach the Supreme Court. So far, there is no preparation for any out-of-court settlement”.



Ram Madhav dismissed Habeeb’s initiative saying, “This is the fist time Habeeb has stated something like this. Let us see how much acceptance his idea commands among his community members.”



A day earlier, VHP international president Ashok Sinhgal had demanded that “a peaceful resolution of the dispute is possible only through legislation. Parliament must enact legislation to enable the peaceful handing over to Hindus of the disputed land in and around the demolished Babri Masjid where Ram Lala temple already stands”.



He also stated that he had written letters to all MPs asking them to support his cause. The letter says that MPs must take up the Ram Temple cause, support legislation by Parliament to hand over the site to Hindus and “prevent the insult” that may be heaped on Hindus.

Quote:Whats going on?

Quote:Kathlal: The victory of Bharatiya Janata Party in the Kathlal by-election in Gujarat has confirmed Chief Minister Narendra Modi's appeal in the state. Modi won in a traditional Congress bastion with a large Muslim population and the election result could redefine his political career.



Ayub Chauhan, 35, is one of the Muslim voters of Kathlal constituency in Central Gujarat who voted for the BJP. It's for the first time BJP won the Assembly constituency and Chauhan does not want to be left out of Gujarat's development story being scripted by Modi.

"We thought it's our Congress and kept voting for it. But the BJP is in Gujarat and everybody is benefiting. We thought why we should be left out," said Ayub Chauhan.



It is not just Ayub Chavan, others too echo similar sentiments. BJP supporters blame the Congress for neglecting their welfare in the past 50 years.

"This time round, we decided to work together. We told our Muslim brothers. Come with us. We will make BJP's Kanu Dabhi win," said BJP sympathiser Ghanshyam Patel.

"We had two options. Either to take the road that goes backwards or the one that goes forward. We chose the road ahead," added a Kathlal resident, Irfan Malik.



The Kathlal Assembly has traditionally been a Congress seat with 65 per cent of the 1.75 lakh voters being Muslims. The defeat is an embarrassment to the Congress and a blow to leader Shankersinh Vaghela in charge of the campaigning here.

Modi was quick to call the result a referendum, especially by Muslims, on the alleged misuse of the CBI by the Congress.



"A lesson has been taught to those who do vote bank politics in the name of secularism. Gujarat's Muslims have taught these people a lesson," said Modi.

Quote:Hate does not work

September 21, 2010 1:04:14 AM



The Pioneer Edit Desk



It’s time Congress realised this truth



The Bharatiya Janata Party’s victory in the Gujarat Assembly byelection in Kathal constituency is a resounding slap in the face of the Congress that has stepped up its motivated campaign of slander and worse against Chief Minister Narendra Modi and the party after the CBI framed and arrested former Minister of State for Home Amit Shah in the alleged Sohrabuddin fake encounter case. The Congress may now seek to downplay the election outcome as being ‘unrepresentative’ of the political mood in the State as a whole and, therefore, inconsequential, but it cannot ignore the fact that it has lost this seat for the first time in 50 years, and that too with a spectacular margin of more than 21,000 votes. Nor can the party pretend to gloss over the fact that Kathal is in central Gujarat, a region which has generally voted for Congress in recent times, or that Muslims voted for the BJP in large numbers. The huge defeat can only be attributed to the alienation of large sections of the population, including Muslims, from the Congress. The results are a rejection of the hate politics the Congress has unleashed against Mr Modi, and the party’s constant attempt to keep communal fires burning even as the Chief Minister focuses on development and rapid progress. The BJP has been rightly raising the issue of Mr Amit Shah being hounded by the CBI, clearly on the instructions of the Congress-led Union Government — as much is evident from the agency’s prejudiced investigations and selective leaks to media. The election outcome shows that the people of Gujarat are not impressed by the Congress’s politics of vendetta and vindictive attitude towards Mr Modi; they are beginning to tire of it.



Since the setback for the Congress comes ahead of crucial civic elections in the State in October, the party should feel worried. The last big win the Congress has had in Gujarat was during the 2001 municipal elections; since then, it has been a downswing all along. Despite its vitriolic attacks on Mr Modi and efforts to discredit him, the Congress has miserably failed to mobilise opinion in its favour. Yet, despite the repeated electoral setbacks the Congress has suffered since 2002, it has been — and continues to remain — reluctant to abandon its ‘Hate Modi’ campaign, scripted by ‘secular’ jholawallahs who neither contest elections nor are accountable to the people. Their larger-than-life image propagated by a biased media and their proximity to certain leaders in the Congress allows them the opportunity to decide for the party what should it be its political line in Gujarat. That apart, there’s an important lesson for everybody to be learned from successive election results in Gujarat: The people of this State have moved on rather than be shackled by events of the past. Funnily though, others seem to be trapped in the past and are reluctant to let Gujarat surge ahead.

Quote:However, the BJP top brass is not ruling out her return to the party. BJP President Nitin Gadkari and Advani are keen on taking her back but Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan and senior central leaders like Arun Jaitley, Sushma Swaraj and M Venkaiah Naidu are not in favour.