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Between the lines
Vajpayee's new incarnationBy Kuldip Nayar
It was no ordinary meeting. Prime Minister Atal Beha-ri Vajpayee was in the chair, flanked by Home Minister L. K. Advani and Human Resources Development Minister Murli Manohar Joshi. The National Com-mittee for the 5th anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi's martyrdom had been convened to suggest how to ob-serve the 30th January when he was shot dead by a Hindu fanatic, Nathuram Vinayak Godse.Strange, none of the former Prime Ministers was present although their chairs, with the tag 'Ex-PM', were reserved on either side of Vajpayee. No representative of the opposition parties, except Dr. Manmohan Singh from Congress, was there.
A historian sitting next to me whispered that nobody bought books on the Mahatma any more. The thin attendance and the tenor of the meeting itself showed lack of interest. Persons like Sushila Nayyar and Usha Mehta, although furrowed by age, whipped up enthusiasm. But theirs was a flicker; the flame in the hearts of people seems to be lessening. They spoke with the same poise and poig-nancy, which distinguished them from others in the past. But what about the future? The BJP looked like upholding Gandhian thoughts.
Vajpayee is persistent in paying homage to Gandhi's memory. Even when in opposition, he has attended all meetings of the committee. Maybe, this gives him the liberal streak, which has sustained him in his fight against the hard-liners in his party. The recent BJP session in Bangalore is one example. He made party chief Kushabau Thackrey, an RSS man, eat his words of criticism. But isn't Vajpayee somewhat late? The RSS - and the Hindutva supporters - are too entrenched and too strong.
The time to assert was before Advani took a rath yatra through Northern Indian and polarised even the countryside. Vajpayee kept quiet then. His defence was that the BJP was forced to do so. He made no bones in saying that had there been no mandal (reservations for the backward as announced by then Prime Minister V. P. Singh), there would have been no kamandal (a small vessel, which distinguishes the sadhus from others). Looking back, it is clear that both divided the society. V. P. Singh's step articulated casteism and Ad-vani's rath yatra communalism. While V. P. Singh's reform stopped at benefiting the creamy layer in the backward, Advani's at making a tolerant society parochial. It will take many years for India to wash out the poison injected at that time in its body politics.
Vajpayee's silence harmed the nation still further when the Babri masjid was demolished at Ayodhya. Al-though upset, he did nothing to repair the damage inflicted on India's composite culture. I recall when I met him on December 7, one day after the demolition, I found him greatly disturbed. But his remark was: 'Let the temple come up.' This was no solution when the Muslims were worked up and the matter was pending before the court. He can, however, help now to get an early verdict by requesting the Supreme Court to order day-to-day hearing by a special court.
The distancing by the Vajpayee group from the RSS may be a tactical move. If there is any reality, it is that the BJP leaders in the government have rea-lised that they cannot return to power if their party continues to have no support from the minorities and liberal Hindus. The BJP is itself to blame for this. It played the Hindu card to divide the society and get vote. In the process, the genie of fanaticism and fundamentalism has come out of the bottle. The realisation that the party has gone too far does not mean that the genie will oblige it and go back into the bottle.
The BJP spokesman had reacted saying that 'there is a limit' when the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) went amuck and attacked Christians. VHP chief Singhal's criticism of Mother Teresa and Amritya Sen was resented rightly. But it is the philosophy of Hindu rashtriya that has given birth to the VHP and the Bajrang Dal. Maybe, they owe their existence to the strategy of blowing hot and cold at the same time. How can the BJP leaders disown the two when all, including the BJP, are members of the RSS parivar? True, Vajpayee is liberal. But he has also stood in knickers in a rally held in the presence of the RSS chief. Differences between the hardliners and others are there but they are no more than a tension within a family.
The point to worry about is a party like the Shiv Sena, which has used the same chauvinistic Hindu stance to build up its following but which is not under the discipline of the RSS. Singhal can be made to eat his words as he had done in the case of Amritya Sen. But Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackrey is not immune to any plea. He is a stray bull.
The Prime Minister said that Pakistan would play cricket matches in India. Thackrey challenged his statement and followed it up with the digging of the pitch at the Kotla grounds in Delhi. He has made India - and the Prime Minister - a laughing stock. If no action is taken against him, Vajpayee will be seen as a compromising Prime Minister. The BJP should at least resign from the Shiv Sena-led government in Maharashtra.
That the BJP has changed its tune is clear from what Ad-vani said in the wake of attacks on the Christians in Gujarat. He said that it was the duty of the state and central governments as well the BJP to ensure safety and equality to members of all religions in the country. They are laudable thoughts. But when it comes to implementing them, the BJP drags its feet. Even now the Home Ministry's response to the excesses committed against the Chris-tians in Gujarat has been lukewarm. Adva-ni's or for that matter, the BJP's stock would have gone up if he had recommended the dismissal of the state government. Instead, the resolution passed at the Bangalore session commended the handling of the situation by Gujarat chief minister Keshu Bhai Patel. His proximity to the RSS rescued him.
Such examples only prove that Vajpayee is willing to strike but afraid to wound. His liberal posture is not enough. He has to undo the harm his party has done. The polity has got so contaminated that the disparate ethnic groups are having their way. In fact, the BJP's governance has let the worst elements in the society to come to the fore. Violence and hatred are rocking the nation. Religion is being mixed with politics with a vengeance.
Take the Akali Dal, the BJP's ally. It sees no difference between religion and politics. So much so, it does not mind misusing the Akal Thakt, the Sikhs' highest temporal authority.
By Gamini G. Punchihewa
The present dismantling of the colonial antiquated Victoria Bridge built across Kelani ganga in British times in 1895 has opened a flood gate of nostalgic memories taking us back to the hazardous conditions that prevailed in ferrying across Kelani ganga before the construction of the bridge.Water transport system
From ancient times to this day, Kelani ganga has been navigable. King Rajasinghe I of the Sitawake period of the 16th century A.D., had strategic naval fortification where watch towers were installed on its banks. During the Portuguese, Dutch and British times, waterways were opened enabling a permanent water transport system from Kelani ganga (or better known as Kolonthota) via Wattala and Negombo to Puttalam lagoons.This medieval water carriage system served as an inland water transport system transporting goods like rice, spice, cardamoms, cinnamon, rubber, liquor, salt, and people to and from Colombo-Negombo-Chilaw and Puttalam. The first such water canal was constructed by the Portuguese in the 16th century A.D. which ran through the well known paddyfields of Muthurajawela. Those rich rice fields of Muthurajawela after the construction of these canals were ruined by tidal waves that swept over them. Environmentalists, ecologists were working hard to keep the balance lands intact which lie in a veritable wet zone.
During Dutch times, they altered the canal routes of these waterways by constructing a canal close to the estuary of the Kelani ganga and had its destination in the puttalam lagoon via-Hendala, Negombo, Chilaw and Palavi. Came the British in the early 19th century A.D., when they altered the then existing waterways by building the famed Hamilton canal having a regular padda boat service which was operated on its navigable route. The elite of the British raj travelled in these padda boats. That ferry service across Kelaniganga was called the 'Bridge of Boats'. Dr. R. L. Brohier, in his 'Discovering Ceylon' recalls those bygone days over the Bridge of Boats' thus:-
'Incidentally this 'Bridge of Boats' was a pontoon bridge which spanned the Kelaniganga at a point called Pasu Grande (Grand Pass) by the Portuguese, ever since then know as Grandpass. This pontoon bridge usurped a ferry service and served as the sole river carriage system from Colombo which gave access to Negombo, the North Western and the Central Provinces for 73 years. It is more than a legend which suggests it was built with 21 boats anchored side by side supporting a carriage way which is precisely recorded to have had 499 feet long. For one hour, daily road traffic was stopped and two boats removed to accommodate the river traffic. The very existence of this bridge was endangered, when the river was in spate at flood time, when often the boats broke lose and were carried to the sea, oft by chance the runaway boats were not engulfed or broken up by the turbulent flood waters, they were retrieved and re-anchored. If the worst happened, another boat was requisitioned and put to service. The first lattice grider bridge to break the segregation of Colombo had been long subjected to by the Kelani ganga was built in 1895 and was named Victoria Bridge after the Queen of Britain.'
Now this heavily laden widened iron girdled Victoria bridge of over 100 years which is being dismantled. Its parts are to be segmented for the use of other bridges to be constructed in various parts of the country. So the grandeur that this hoary iron bridge that carried its heavy burdens of traffic for over a century. It would stand as a living legend now and for posterity.
