Destination Ayodhya: It was the best of strategies, and perhaps the worst1990:If one particular march in Independent India's history marks the end of an epoch and the beginning of another, it is the rath yatra led by Lal Krishna Advani in 1990.Advani covered nearly 10,000 km in a vehicle designed to look like a rath with the Hindu sign, Om, and the BJP's election symbol, the lotus, etched on it. The journey was an attempt to defeat former prime minister V.P. Singh's Mandal agenda. In an interview Advani admitted that the Mandal episode had created a context for his yatra. While Mandal divided the society, the Sangh Parivar believed the rath yatra would unite the Hindus. Did the yatra help the politics of the Sangh Parivar? It may have been the best of strategies... also perhaps the worst. The BJP's support base surged in the 1991 elections: its seat share in the Lok Sabha increased from 85 to 120 in just two years. Yet, once the Babri Masjid was demolished by the forces unleashed by the rath yatra on December 6, 1992, the surge dipped: the BJP lost all four states in north India. However, in the long run, the rath yatra catapulted the party into power by 1998, making its hero, Advani, the deputy prime minister. But the logic of a government is diagonally opposed to the logic of a movement: governments uphold law, movements bypass law. Today, the unfulfilled purpose of the rath yatra hangs like an albatross around the neck of the NDA Government.Published By: AtMigration Published On: Aug 18, 2003 00:00 IST--- ENDS ---
