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  • The lesson of Ayodhya

    Posted On July 9, 2005

    By Karan Thapar

    I guess it's not an accident that dramabazi is a word Indians have coined. We have a flair for it. Listen to the way we speak. Where one adjective could do we insist on three or four. And rather than carefully compliment we go for the superlative. So, a woman is rarely pretty; she's gorgeous, stunning, even ravishing, and perhaps all three.

     

    Well, last Tuesday we made a real drama out of the potential Ayodhya crisis. First, however, note the word 'potential'. The crisis did not materialise. The terrorist attack failed. The structure was not harmed. No one other than the terrorists was killed. No doubt we came close to a major crisis. But it was averted. Yet did that affect how our politicians and news channels responded? Not a bit.

     

    The news had barely broken before politicians of all stripes started shouting security lapse. They hardly knew the details but, undeterred, jumped to conclusions. If Sriprakash Jaiswal was the first, LK Advani, in far-off Guwahati, was not far behind. Within minutes Mulayam was equally vociferous in denying it. And our news channels, who know no better, lapped it up. So side by side with the emerging details, which were still sketchy, we were fed half-baked conclusions.

     

    Why can't politicians wait until they know what they're talking about? And why can't the press disregard them till they do? Yet if things had stopped there it might still have been acceptable. After all, shooting our mouths off when discretion lies in reticence is a national characteristic. But, alas, matters went much further.

     

    The BJP was determined to milk the incident for every drop of political benefit. Advani, without batting an eyelid, announced nationwide protests. Jaswant Singh, with equal speed, accused the UPA of disregarding Hindu sentiments. Rajnath Singh and Kalyan Singh shot off to Ayodhya, as if getting there before the UPA was an achievement in itself. Modi, quite forgetting the needs of his own flood-ravaged state, gifted 10 lakhs to the jawans who had killed the terrorists.

    It looked as if the BJP had two targets. First, to embarrass the Government, regardless of the occasion or the accuracy of the evidence. Second, to ignite Hindu wrath whilst presenting itself as its champion.

    How different was the response of the Conservatives in London just 24 hours later to a far worse terrorist attack.

     

    Yet in its haste the BJP overlooked its own contradictions. If LK Advani is right in claiming it was a security lapse why was Modi rewarding the same jawans? If the BJP is correct in alleging negligence and intelligence failure surely Jaswant Singh, who personally escorted Masood Azhar to freedom, is the wrong man to level the charge?

      

    However, the force of the BJP attack pushed the government off balance. Casting aside restraint and wisdom, the PMO responded with a series of knee-jerk announcements. The PM promptly cancelled a planned survey of flood damage in Gujarat. Right through the day his office issued appeals for calm. And the evening ended with a well-intended but utterly unnecessary address to the nation.

    Did Manmohan Singh forget that a government's strength lies in its measured response? In moments of real crisis prime ministers deliberately choose to continue with their schedules to reassure the country. And, anyway, what happened in Gujarat was a lot worse than what actually happened in Ayodhya. More importantly, you only issue calls for calm if there is real danger of trouble and not because the opposition is threatening to disturb things. Manmohan Singh should have shown greater faith in the Indian people and less fear of the BJP.

     

    But if politicians lost their balance television news channels lost perspective altogether. For the whole day the only story covered was the incident at Ayodhya. From the intensity of their focus you could have been forgiven for assuming that the terrorists had succeeded. 24 hours later, the BBC was mature, balanced and sober.

     

    So, I suppose, it's a miracle ordinary Indians were not affected. The BJP sought to provoke, the government appeared panicky and television obsessive. Despite that the Indian people remained unruffled. Whatever they felt in their hearts or thought in their heads remained within them. They, at least, did not make a drama out of a crisis.

     

    There's a lesson here, but will politicians and journalists heed it?


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