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Shahid K Abbas in New Delhi
The non-Congress opposition leaders belonging to seven parties are meeting President K R Narayanan later on Wednesday evening to request him to persuade the Uttar Pradesh governor to invite the leader of the single largest party to form the government in the state.
Addressing the media, Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Somnath Chatterjee described the VHP's call for starting the Ram Temple construction at Ayodhya from March 15 as a 'diabolical attempt' to whip up communal frenzy and disturb peace.
Apprehending that a situation is being deliberately built to repeat the events of December 6, 1992, Chatterjee said that the response of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Home Minister Lal Kishenchand Advani was 'disappointing' at the all-party meeting convened by the former on Tuesday to discuss the issue.
Taking a serious note of the tense situation in Gujarat following the train incident, Chatterjee said, "The VHP and the Sangh parivar are out to destroy the national unity and secular character of the country by threatening to defy the court to construct the Ram Temple."
He said, "In a civilised country, it is unheard of that attempts were on to arouse communal passions by trying to arrange gathering of the people at the disputed site, while the government of India is sitting like a sphinx."
Responding to a question as what was the government's response to their concern at Tuesday's all-party meeting, Chatterjee said that both the prime minister and the home minister admitted that the onus of responsibility to maintain law and order and ensure that the court orders were not violated was as much on the central government as on the state government.
Foreseeing a design in the stepped up Ram-Mandir campaign to create problems for the incoming government in the state after the BJP tasted 'humble-pie' in the four assembly elections, Chatterjee said, "I hope good sense would prevail upon the state governor to invite the leader of the largest single party to form the government in Uttar Pradesh."
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