UP action on HC verdict will be acid test for secular leaders
AMIT SHARMA

LUCKNOW, FEB 14: The recent judgement of Allahabad High Court's Lucknow Bench, which gives a breather to top BJP and VHP leaders, has turned into a barometer to test secular parties' ``real concern'' for minorities.

Nehalludin, president of All India Muslim Forum, said: ``This is the time when we can judge how serious the political leaders who have annointed themselves champions of the Muslim cause are. After all, they had benefitted at the hustings from the minority community's mass-voting pattern.''

The Muslim leaders will wait for the Rajnath Singh government's response to the high court verdict. The verdict suggested that if desired, the government could go for fresh notification and then urge the secular parties to mount collective pressure on the party's central leadership.

The minority community leaders have decided to urge the ``champions of the Muslim cause'' to press Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee to direct the state to issue fresh notification. If it comes through, BJP and VHP leaders such as L.K. Advani, M.M. Joshi and Uma Bharti could get the ``kind of treatment they deserve for hatching the demolition conspiracy''.

``Letters will be sent to all the leaders who claim they pursued the secularist path but not to pseudo-secularists such as those in the Congress. That party was equally responsible for the demolition,'' a leaderof the Babri Masjid Action Committee said.

The Muslim leaders said the response to these letters would not only bea parameter of the ``real concern'' of secular leaders but would helpbuild up pressure to bring the guilty to book.

The state government, however, is in no hurry to decide quickly. ``We will take action keeping in mind the legal aspects and won't do anything in haste,'' Rajnath Singh told reporters late on Tuesday.

He refused comment on any direct action by the government.

Copyright © 2001 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.