<I>Desi</I> event becomes saffron, Vajpayee plays along

Desi event becomes saffron, Vajpayee plays along
CHIDANAND RAJGHATTA

NEW YORK, SEPTEMBER 10: Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee played to the saffron gallery on Saturday in the first whiff of controversy on his American yatra.

Having put the UN millennium summit behind him, Vajpayee embarked on a raft of community events, including addressing the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan and agathering of Ayurveda proponents in the morning.

But it was his evening foray into Staten Island -- in many ways a metaphor for immigration -- which raised eyebrows.

The reception at the Little League baseball diamond was supposed to be an all-Indian community event organised by the Overseas BJP and other NRI outfits. But what transpired was politico-religious affair dominated by saffronites, much to the dismay of those allergic to all things clergic.

Arriving a couple of hours late during which the priestly class failed to hold its boisterous laity in thrall with discourses on Hindutva, Vajpayee faced the familiar awkward questions that the ruling establishment has learnt to handle so deftly.

``When will the BJP government build the Ram Temple?''

``We have done a lot being a minority government. When we (the BJP) is given a majority, we will build an India of everyone's dream,'' Vajpayee replied artfully.

Outside, a motley crew of some 50 Pakistanis and separatist Kashmiris held placards that read that read ``Don't Lie, Vajpayee'' and ``Indian forces out of Kashmir.'' Police kept them away from the nationalists.

In a half-hour extempore speech delivered sitting down because of his knee problem, Vajpayee also discoursed on weighty philosophical matters like dharma, vedanta, and satvikta.

There was a frisson of resentment among some Indian invitees that the event was ``hijacked'' by Hindu religionists. Others thought they could live with it. One organiser explained that the clergy from other faiths were listed to speak to but the programme had to be abbreviated because of the Prime Minister's health, giving the impression that only the saffronites wererunning the show.

Vajpayee also released a compact disc on Hindu heritage and activated a website promoting Indian education.

The event pleased many people alienated from their land and culture but it also dismayed securalists who hoped to see a more plural and inclusive meeting. It transpires that is indeed what the organisers had promised the PMO, roping in even professional organisations like the Association of American Physicians of Indian origin (AAPI).

But the Prime Minister was not shy of playing to the gallery either.

``I may or may not be prime minister tomorrow, but no one can take away my right to be a swayamsevak,'' Vajpayee told the 3,000-plus overseas Indians, many of whom were evidently members or sympathisers of the RSS and the VHP.

But Vajpayee also discoursed at length on the Indian way of life and values at the reception, saying the greatness of India lay in the way it saw the entire humanity as a single entity and allowed people to take different roads to the same destination.

Such discourses were beyond the keen Pakistani media for whom the event gave an opportunity to express its profound views.

``Though Indian Prime Minister Vajpayee has accused Pakistan of holding extreme religious values of medieval age, he himself will join a gathering ofextremists Hindus, who believe and practice ancient religious values and firmly believe in the class system and inequality of human beings from their birth until death,'' The News reported with obvious relish ahead of the event.

The Prime Minister on Sunday took a break and headed out to Connecticut to visit his adopted daughter Nandita's family, before returning to New York forhis medical check up ahead of his state visit to Washington.