[sacw] sacw dispatch #2 (25 Oct.99)

[Harsh Kapoor]

South Asia Citizens Web Dispatch #2
25 October 1999
____________________
#1. Pakistani Regime's Views Rankle Islamic Hard-Liners
#2. Military Coup In Pakistan [A Comment from India]
#3. A Partition Mobster from RSS appointed to India's Education body
#4. The 'Spiritual Messengers' of [India's] Parliament
____________________
#1.
Los Angeles Times
Sunday, October 24, 1999
Nation & World

PAKISTANI REGIME'S VIEWS RANKLE ISLAMIC HARD-LINERS
By DEXTER FILKINS, Times Staff Writer

AKORA KHATTAK, Pakistan--Of all the ways to measure the Islamic zeal
of this country's new rulers, one of the most popular is the counting of
beards.
The presence of a long beard on a Pakistani male is often regarded
here as a crude but quick way to spot an adherent of an extreme
interpretation of the Islamic faith. Experts watching the Pakistani army,
which seized power in a coup Oct. 12, are relieved to find that the number
of beards among senior officers is still decidedly low.
Gen. Pervez Musharraf, who led the effort to topple Prime Minister
Nawaz Sharif, sports a mustache but no beard--and is generally thought to
hold moderate religious views. Of the army's 23 brigadiers, only two have
the telltale beards.
"The leadership and officer corps of the Pakistani army is still
predominantly secular," said a Western diplomat in the capital, Islamabad.
"The army is a highly professional institution, and the leadership is
firmly in control."
Indeed, the preponderance of moderates among the country's new
leadership is prompting a new fear--that of a confrontation between
Musharraf and Pakistan's burgeoning fundamentalist groups.
Western diplomats here have long expressed concern over the growing
strength of extremist Islamic groups, which are believed to harbor
militants and which have sent fighters into neighboring Afghanistan, whose
Islamic leaders are harboring suspected terrorist Osama bin Laden.
Pakistan's testing of nuclear weapons last year has given these
developments a new urgency.
In his only speech since declaring emergency rule, Musharraf hinted
that he might change course on a number of issues dear to the extremists.
The general suggested that Pakistan might cool its support for the Taliban,
the ultra-orthodox Islamic group that controls most of Afghanistan. He
ordered a unilateral pullback of Pakistani forces along the international
border with India and said he wanted to start a dialogue over the disputed
Himalayan region of Kashmir. In his most surprising remark, Musharraf
chided religious groups who he said are tarnishing the image of Islam.
"Islam teaches tolerance and not hatred, universal brotherhood and not
enmity," Musharraf said in the speech, broadcast across the nation. "I have
great respect for [the Islamic clergy]. . . . I urge them to curb elements
which are exploiting religion for vested interests and bringing a bad name
to our faith."

Islamic Extremists Trouble New Leader
In private conversations with Western diplomats, Musharraf has
indicated that he is troubled by the growing strength of extremist
religious groups. Upon taking power, the general prohibited political
speeches in mosques and cut the phone lines of one of the country's largest
schools of militant Islam.
On Saturday, a Muslim cleric was arrested for violating the ban on
political speeches, while police prevented the leader of the country's most
influential Islamic party from entering North-West Frontier province after
he attacked Musharraf for being too secular.
"The general said that things had gone too far," the Western diplomat
said. "How he is going to sort all this out is very murky."
Members of Pakistan's hard-core religious parties and militant groups,
who are thought to number more than a million, passionately support some of
the country's most divisive policies: the imposition of Islamic law,
continued military backing of the Taliban and support for the 10-year-old
guerrilla war to expel the Indian army from Indian-held Kashmir. Pakistan's
religious parties played a crucial role in organizing the opposition during
Sharif's final days, and they say they would not hesitate to do the same
against the army.
"It's no joke taking us on," said Mulana Sami ul-Haq, the leader of
the Madrasa Jamia Haqqania, an Islamic school here in Akora Khattak, about
75 miles west of Islamabad. "That would lead to bloodshed and civil war."
With about 2,500 students, the Madrasa Jamia Haqqania is the largest
of Pakistan's estimated 6,000 private religious schools run by Muslim
clerics. While many of the madrasas in the Islamic world teach a moderate
version of the faith, others preach holy war and religious fanaticism.
Pakistan's madrasas have supplied thousands of Pakistani and Afghan
volunteers to the Taliban army in recent years, and others have sent
fighters into Indian-held Kashmir.
At the Madrasa Jamia Haqqania, students come from as far away as
Turkey and Azerbaijan. Bin Laden, the alleged mastermind of last year's
bombings of two U.S. embassies in Africa, passed through here in the 1980s,
as did Mullah Mohammed Omar, the leader of the Taliban.
Many of the madrasas are thought to have received funding from the
Pakistani government. The Pakistani army and intelligence agencies are also
believed to be providing substantial support to the guerrillas operating in
Kashmir. Some Kashmiri guerrilla groups, such as the Army of the Pure,
which has guerrillas operating inside Indian Kashmir, boast that they
perform military training on Pakistani soil.
"We will carry on the jihad," Abdullah Mundazir, a spokesman for the
Army of the Pure, said last week. "The Pakistan army is sympathetic to us."
Experts here and in the West say that the character of the Pakistani
army is changing--the debate is over how much. Gen. Zia ul-Haq, Pakistan's
military ruler from 1977 until 1988, launched a campaign to transform an
army that had been created in the British tradition and that had been drawn
>from the country's upper classes. Zia wanted to make the army more Islamic.
These days, some of its top leaders are known to interrupt meetings to
pray.
"The recruiting base of the army has changed," another diplomat in
Islamabad said.
By many accounts, Musharraf is a religious man and also a tolerant
one, with a brother and son in the United States. In a country where
alcohol is strictly prohibited, he is said to enjoy an occasional tumbler
of whiskey. He is an admirer of Abraham Lincoln and keeps a set of his
speeches at hand.
In a deeply conservative society where the sexes do not often mix,
many Pakistanis say that Musharraf views women with respect. At parties in
the capital's palatial homes, he often bucks the custom whereby men and
women gravitate toward separate sides of the room.
"He just walks right over to the women and engages them," said Haroon
Akbar, a family friend.

Hard-Line Views on Issue of Kashmir
But others, including some Western experts, say the general, while a
religious moderate, holds hard-line views on Kashmir that he is not likely
to shed. Musharraf is widely believed to have planned and orchestrated this
summer's operation in Kargil, in which a force of about 1,000 Pakistani
soldiers disguised as Kashmiri guerrillas seized a string of mountaintops
inside Indian territory. The venture sparked the bloodiest fighting between
India and Pakistan in 25 years. It ended with a humiliating retreat by the
Pakistani army.
"He is committed to making life absolutely miserable for the Indian
security forces," said Michael Krepon, president of the Henry L. Stimson
Center think tank in Washington. "If he runs the country the way he ran the
Kargil operation, there is going to be a problem."
Musharraf is expected to unveil the lineup of his top advisors
soon.The early word is that the group will include civilian experts and
military men. Their priority will be to revive an economy that has been
ruined by corruption and mismanagement. Ghazi Salahuddin, a prominent
newspaper columnist in Karachi, the country's commercial capital, said
Musharraf has already begun a task more important than putting people to
work.
"He has given the country a sense of hope," Ghazi said in an
interview. "When people have hope, they begin to believe that the system
can work."

___________________
#2.
MILITARY COUP IN PAKISTAN: WHY WE SHOULDN'T GLOAT
By Praful Bidwai

If there were a nuclear Doomsday Clock for India and Pakistan, we would
have to advance its hands by two minutes. After the Pakistan coup d=EDetat,
it would show three minutes to midnight. The clock, whose concept was
invented by peace-minded atomic scientists to warn humanity of the gravest
threat to its existence, has registered many nasty advances since 1974 in
South Asia, especially with the nuclear tests. Kargil took it forward by
two minutes: India and Pakistan exchanged veiled nuclear threats at least
13 times during the conflict.

With the coup, a crucial assumption about the low likelihood of an
India-Pakistan nuclear exchange has broken down=F3namely, the integrity of
the establishments of the two countries and their ability to take rational
decisions about the life and death of millions of people. The coup has
exposed the fragility of the Pakistan establishment. Generals who can plot
against one another (as ISI chief Khwaja Zia-ud-din did against Gen Pervez
Musharraf) and overthrow elected government, can also overturn norms of
rational conduct. They can invent threats, panic, or pull the nuclear
trigger to assert =ECnational pride=EE, or in pre-emptive =ECself-defence=EE=
=2E

This should induce salutary sobriety in Indian responses to the events in
Pakistan. Instead, our policy-makers and -shapers have gloated over them,
indulged in self-congratulation over the strength of Indian democracy, and
ridiculed Pakistan and its people. Beneath their declared willingness to
deal maturely with all regimes in Pakistan, whether civilian or military,
lurk many Indian suspicions and calculations. The main calculation is how
to use Pakistan=EDs present crisis to court Washington through slogans such
as fighting =ECcross-border terrorism=EE.

Our Foreign Office did India no credit by pooh-poohing Pakistan=EDs
unilateral troop withdrawal from the international border, and summarily
rejecting its offer of an =ECunconditional=EE, =ECresults-oriented=EE=
dialogue. In
today=EDs situation, tension defusion and dialogue resumption are so
important that it really does not matter whether Gen Musharraf=EDs intention=
s
are sincere, or whether the pullback extends to the the LoC in Kashmir. Any
pullback is unreservedly welcome and in our own interest. New Delhi would
have heightened its stature and won the Pakistani people=EDs goodwill by
making a positive response. Instead it has chosen to be petty and
strengthened the view that, led by a traditionally anti-Pakistan party, it
is not interested in conciliation.

Some of our Pakistan-baiting analysts have argued that the coup is no big
deal: military rule is the normal or =ECnatural=EE state of Pakistan, and th=
e
army merely acted as the guardian of the Two-Nation Theory. This analysis
ignores the many steps=F3wobbling, and indecisive, yet definite and
numerous=F3that Pakistan has taken towards democratisation during the past
decade. It makes light of the evolution of civil society: 1999 is not 1958
or 1977. The analysis portrays misgovernance as fundamental failure of
democracy itself. Rather than deal with the roots of the crisis in
leadership failure, it makes sweeping generalisations about the unviability
of the Pakistani state.

This view is mistaken. It assumes that once a state is founded on religious
identity, it is doomed to remain so forever. Historically, this is belied
not just in =ECChristian=EE or =ECBuddhist=EE societies, which have evolved =
into
broadly secular systems, but also in =ECMuslim=EE Iran, Iraq or Turkey. Iran=
is
an excellent contemporary example. Twenty years after the Islamic
Revolution, it is transiting towards a pluralist, liberal democracy. A
usual premise beneath Pakistan=EDs =ECunviability=EE is that Islam and democ=
racy
are mutually incompatible. This is communal nonsense. Secular democracy is
not about capturing a particular religion in politics, but about basic
separation between all religions and politics. If mainly =ECMuslim=EE Turkey=
or
Bangladesh can sustain democracy, so can Pakistan.

In Pakistan, the army did not intervene because Mr Sharif was jeopardising
the Two-Nation Theory. A different conflict was at work. Mr Sharif tampered
with the military line of command, creating resentment. This surfaced
during Kargil. His decision to withdraw the mujahideen further sharpened
tensions with Gen Musharraf. His more recent meetings with some Corps
Commanders precipitated the final act: mid-air dismissal of Gen Musharraf
and attempt to prevent his aircraft from landing at Karachi. The coup was
largely reactive.

The backdrop to all this was Mr Sharif=EDs 31 months-long feudal-style rule,
which lost him all credibility. Mr Sharif undermined all institutions and
made a mockery of governance. His Cabinet did not meet for a whole year.
The National Assembly did not pass a single legislation under his rule.
Crony capitalism reached new heights as the economy went into a tailspin.
The breakdown of public services was total. The army was drafted to collect
electricity and water bills. Little wonder, then, that three-fourths of
Pakistanis polled by Gallup shed no tears for Mr Sharif, although
three-fifths want civilian democracy.

Pakistan=EDs 140 million people have lost democratic rights, the Constitutio=
n
stands suspended, and the military is back overtly interfering in public
life after 12 years. Pakistan seethes with severe economic inequalities and
low growth, intense regional-ethnic tensions and rising fundamentalism.
Both the Pakistan People=EDs Party and Muslim League have been tried twice,
and found wanting. There is no democratic alternative on the horizon.
Theses recent events are a terrible setback for the Pakistani people. We
must sympathise and solidarise with them.

The Pakistan crisis comes in conjunction with the swearing in of a hardline
right-wing government in India, and a global setback to nuclear
disarmament. Mr Vajpayee belongs to a viscerally anti-Pakistan political
current which believes in Akhand Bharat. Such currents in India and
Pakistan have fomented exclusivist nationalism, militarism and jingoism.
These, in turn, promote mutual hostility. This vicious cycle is part of
what is the world=EDs longest-lasting hot-cold war. It must be broken. The
BJP-led government is least equipped=F3and least willing=F3to do so.

After the 1998 nuclear watershed, India-Pakistan relations have decisively
changed. Two months ago, India ignited a new nuclear arms race by
publishing a =ECdraft nuclear doctrine=EE, which calls for a huge, open-ende=
d,
triadic arsenal. Pakistan will try to match this. Even China is
re-evaluating its nuclear posture. All this is likely to further stoke
militarism in the region.

Global developments have been equally dismal, especially the U.S. Senate=EDs
rejection of the CTBT. The treaty cannot come into force for a couple of
years. This takes the pressure off India and Pakistan to sign it. Although
the CTBT does not prevent nuclear weapons manufacture, it will create
conditions conducive to restraint. Absent restraint, India and Pakistan
will persist with their nuclear preparations. The CTBT failure signifies a
larger setback under the Republican Right. The whole agenda of nuclear arms
reduction is liable to suffer, and the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty (which
bans full-scale =ECStar Wars=EE) get jeopardised. This could lead to a colla=
pse
of the post Cold-War momentum in favour of nuclear abolition. This will
strengthen hardline mindsets everywhere, including South Asia.

All this underscores the perils of India=EDs myopic and mean-spirited
response to Gen Musharraf's offer of unconditional dialogue. India is
missing the chance to effect mutual disengagement. Pakistan is bursting
with tension. It is in India=EDs own long-term interest that it does not
disintegrate. We do not want a Nuclear Somalia at our doorstep. Making a
dialogue conditional upon withdrawal of support to =ECcross-border terrorism=
=EE
is a retreat from the Lahore process. Questioning Pakistan=EDs intentions on
this score leaves New Delhi vulnerable to the charge that its own
intentions are not honourable. Did it not do =ECbus diplomacy=EE mainly to
appear reasonable to the world after the nuclear tests?

Our policy-makers are today repeating the grave error they committed for
one and a half decades by refusing nuclear restraint talks with Pakistan.
They branded all its seven different proposals on this as =ECinsincere=EE.
Their calculation today is a devious one. Some of them see in the coup an
opportunity to trap Washington in its own rhetoric of democracy and raise
the pitch of =ECcross-border terrorism=EE. New Delhi is looking at Pakistan
through the prism of Indo-U.S. relations, thanks to its deplorable agenda
of establishing an exclusive strategic relationship with Washington.

This diverts attention from our democratic priorities. Given our
institutional erosion, corruption in public life, growing elitism in
economy and society, and subversion of norms of Cabinet functioning, our
democracy too has become vulnerable. Its health, while far better than that
of Pakistan=EDs, cannot be taken for granted. Democracy has to be nurtured
carefully. We should not be smug about it. The main reason the Indian
military has not meddled with civilian authority is not that this society
is inherently resistant to militarism, or that its army comes from a
different tradition than Pakistan's. Our military understood long ago as
did the rest of our Establishment that in a plural, diverse society, you
cannot sustain any institution unless you take the bulk of society with
you. Insofar as political leaders perform well, they can do this. Their
increasing failure to deliver should worry us.

We must remember and Pakistan is an extreme-case reminder that democracy is
not about elections and majority rule alone. It also involves fundamental
liberties and freedoms, legal entitlements, robust representative
institutions, separation of powers between them, free debate, an unshackled
media, and institutionalised mechanisms to promote accountability. When
these are weakened, democracy can erode, even collapse.(end)
____________________
#3.
Asian Age
October 25, 1999

"I SHOT WOMAN IN 47 RIOT TO SAVE HER"

RSS man who was in Partition mob to choose new NCERT professors

New Delhi: An RSS pracharak who had shot and killed a Muslim woman during
the Partition riots of 1947 to 'save her' from rape at the hands of his
compatriots has now been appointed the President of India's nominee on the
committee selecting 60 professors and readers in the National Council for
Educational Research and Training.

The appointment of Dr K.G. Rastogi, a retired NCERT professor, by the human
resources development ministry headed by Dr Murli Manohar Joshi is for the
current academic year. Dr Rastogi has already sat as an observer at
interviews conducted for the post of professor in the department of groups
with special needs.

In his autobiographical Aap Beeti, Krishna Gopal Rastogi, 62, discloses how
he took out his gun and shot a woman in a Muslim locality somewhere between
Rourkee and Hardwar during the Hindu-Muslim riots which broke out
immediately after the Partition of India in 1947. The autobiography has been
dedicated to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and its foreword has been
written by the RSS joint general secretary, Mr K.S. Sudarshan.

In a chapter entitled Pracharak ka jeevan, Mr Rastogi provides a detailed
account of the background in which the shooting took place: "During those
days of struggle both Hindus and Muslims were uniting themselves and
attacking each other. The Muslims were more united in comparison to the
Hindus. They used to prepare for the attack and used to attack first. As a
strategy for our security we decided that from wherever we got information
about Muslim attacks we should attack first. One such incident occurred in a
locality called Puran Kaliyar, a place in between Hardwar and Rourkee. This
was a Muslim locality. They were fully prepared to attack us. They had
swords, spears, guns and small cannons. When we came to know of this we took
250 people, which included goons from Rourkee, and attacked the Muslim
locality. Both sides fought and people from both sides died..."

And then about the actual incident: "A strange incident happened in the
locality as the attackers (read Hindus) started fighting with each other
over a beautiful woman found in one house where the killing was going on.
The attackers forgot their mission and started claiming the woman. I
threatened them, and then a solution came to my mind. I shot her dead." At
no point, it appears, the thought of turning his gun on the attackers cross
Mr Rastogi's head.
Elsewhere in the book he mentions how Mahatma Gandhi, while pained by the
fallout of Partition, angered some people by his insistence on generosity
towards Pakistan. He writes: "1947 passed off successfully. I passed BA and
in the 30-odd villages in my area the shakha was started. There were riots
in the country and people were moving across the two borders. Mahatma Gandhi
was pained at all this... The generosity of the Hindu mind could not
tolerate this. The partition of the country was based on the two-nation
theory and all sort of inhuman treatment was meted out to the Hindus in
Pakistan, but Gandhiji did not consider the ouster of Muslims from India as
correct. Jinnah was even offered the prime ministership of undivided India
by Gandhiji. Even after Partition, Pakistan was given crores of rupees for
the canal, thanks to Gandhiji. Annoyed at all these acts of Gandhiji,
Nathuram Godse silenced him for ever on January 30,1948."

In another chapter Mr Rastogi recounts how he lobbied for the post of
professor in 1976-77. "Appointment for the post of professor of Hindi in the
department of social sciences and humanities is worth remembering," he
writes in the chapter Professor ho hi gya. "There were two candidates for
the post. The other candidate was behind me in educational qualification but
ahead of me in lobbying," he writes. There were two experts =F3 the NCERT's
chief and the representative of the then education minister (equivalent to
the post Mr Rastogi occupies today) =F3 in the selection panel. The minister=
=EDs
nominee was known to him =F3 he had been his teacher at one time.

The minister=EDs nominee asked for a blank check from me, which he wanted to
give to one of the experts, but I could not believe this," he says. "I also
tried to contact the expert before the interview, but the entire exercise
was of no use as the other candidate had already contacted the expert."
_____________
#4.
Indian Express,
Oct 23, 1999

THE 'SPIRITUAL MESSENGERS' OF PARLIAMENT

THE SAFFRON BRIGADE is largely on the fringe of the Lok Sabha,
but its very presence indicates that the mandir issue is still
around, says VRINDA GOPINATH.

THE BJP may have shelved its temple-building plans for the moment
because of the elusive magic figure in Parliament, but this
cumbersome fact has in no way crushed the exuberance of the
colourful band of sadhus, sants and sanyasins who have romped
into the Lok Sabha on the mandir issue.

Since 1991, almost every election has seen the return of the
faithful, though their influence has waned considerably over the
years. The battle-cry of 'Jai Shri Ram' which resounded in the
halls of Parliament in the initial heady years was gradually
muted and has finally fallen silent, now that the BJP has cast
aside its Hindutva agenda for the more acceptable common minimum
programme.

But this motley crew of 'spiritual messengers' (as their official
CVs state coyly), have lingered on. Their numbers have not gone
beyond a frugal half-a-dozen, but their fortunes have been marked
by some stunning wins and losses.

There are two distinctive categories of the Ram Brigade -- the
saffron-robed, vermilion-smeared sadhus and sadhvis like Ram
Vilas Vedanti, Mahant Avaidyanath, Uma Bharati and the like, and
committed warriors of Ram such as Bajrang Dal chief Vinay
Katiyar, former SSP of Faizabad D.B.Rai, who was rewarded with a
ticket in 1996 and 1998 for exemplary service at the height of
the Ramjanmabhoomi movement, and S.C.Dixit, yet another high-
ranking police officer who joined the VHP after his retirement in
the mid-eighties. They were all given a BJP ticket to contest the
elections.

Charmed by their own conceit, these self-proclaimed godmen and
goddesses carved a niche for themselves out of their devotion and
unflinching dedication to build a grand Ram temple in Ayodhya.
But soon, political ambitions and, more importantly, the deadly
spectre of casteism made an appearance, putting their divinity on
the back burner. The increasing pulls and pressures of OBC
aspirations in a largely upper-caste party like the BJP has
almost fissured the movement.

Uma Bharati, the most famous face of the Ram brigade, who stormed
into public view with her rabble-rousing speeches in the late
Eighties, has never hidden the fact that she has combined her
devihood and her commitment to the social justice movement.

The sanyasin, who belongs to the backward Lodh caste group, has
been vocal about OBC representation, even in the Women's
Reservation Bill despite her party's endorsement of the Bill
without such changes.

The caste factor became overt when Sachidanand Hari Sakshi,
popularly called Sakshi Maharaj, openly revolted against the
sangh parivar for its upper-caste bias in this election. The
swami, who was denied a ticket by the BJP leadership, went on a
vengeful spree of hate-BJP rallies and exhorted his supporters
(mainly OBCs, as he is a Lodh Rajput) to support the Samajwadi
Party (SP) to avenge the humiliation meted out to BJP Chief
Minister Kalyan Sangh, who is also a Lodh.

The outcome was there for all to see -- the SP won with
unexpected gains -- and the new-found camaraderie between the
Lodhs and the Yadavs was finally established.

That this clutch of saffron parliamentarians was under severe
threat from within was displayed once again when one of its
members, Swami Ram Vilas Vedanti, a brahmin and three-time MP,
lost this time in Machlishahar to the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP).
Vedanti has publicly alleged that Kalyan Singh sabotaged his
chances, and right away the swami threatened to go on an
indefinite protest dharna. It was only after the BJP's central
leadership persuaded him that it would mar their victory
celebrations in Delhi that Vedanti backed off.

The Ram movement lost one of its most vocal and dedicated voices
with the incapacitation of senior BJP leader Vijayeraje Scindia,
the erstwhile Maharani of Gwalior. One of the prime movers of the
temple cause, Scindia inspired thousands of Ram bhakts with her
stirring speeches and discourses. She went on to become the vice-
president of the Ramjanmabhoomi Nyas, the core organisation for
the movement. But before she could claim the rewards that would
have come her way, Scindia fell seriously ill. She is still
fighting her terminal illness.

That all the swamis rode in on the crest of the Ram Mandir
movement is evident from the fact that almost all of them entered
Parliament after 1989. The only veteran among them is Mahant
Avaidyanath, who was elected member of the UP Legislative
Assembly as early as 1962 and returned once again in 1970. But
the Mahant had to flounder in anonymity for almost two decades
after that spectacular beginning and was salvaged from near-
extinction by the temple movement to be elected in 1989.

As 'spiritual head' of the Shri Gorakhnath Mandir, Avaidyanath
ran a fiefdom in Gorakhpur. He was an unlikely sight for a swami.
His devotees in the ashram carried guns and lathis instead of
garlands and lamps.

Apart from Uma Bharti, who is now a two-time minister of state,
Avaidyanath is perhaps the only other sadhvic MP to get a post in
government. He was appointed member, consultative committee, in
the Ministry of Home Affairs in 1990. The Mahant, who went on to
win two subsequent elections (1991 and 1996), finally retired
from public life two years ago because of ill-health. He
appointed his trusted 'chela' and nephew, Yogi Adityanath, who
won both the subsequent elections (1998 and 1999) from his
uncle's carefully nurtured constituency of Gorakhpur.

The lean, 28-year-old protege has taken over the reins of the
wealthy Gorakhnath Temple Trust with flair, whose generous
patrons include the Nepal royal family. Though Yogi has been
relegated to the back benches of the Lok Sabha along with the
other swamis, he had been noticed by the BJP leadership for his
sincerity and his diligent attendance in the House.

Swami Chinmayanand, three-time MP, earlier from the Badayun
constituency and this time from Jaunpur, UP, was also rewarded
richly for his wholetime support for the mandir movement. As head
of the Parmath Ashram in Hardwar, Chinmayanand was part of the
VHP retinue that set off in an air-conditioned bus across the
dustland of UP, bearing the message of Ram. The quartet, which
included VHP chief Ashok Singhal, Sadhvi Rithambara and Acharya
Dharmendra, a heavyweight sadhu from Rajasthan, spent weeks
travelling to every village in the Hindi heartland and
Chinmayand's companions were visibly impressed by his lethal spew
against non-Hindus.

After his initiation into parliamentary politics in 1991, when he
defeated former Janata Dal strongman Sharad Yadav in Badayun,
Chinmayand was shocked to hear about his stunning defeat in the
constituency in 1996. But he swung back two years later and this
time, sensing an anti-incumbency mood in his constituency, he
asked for a change. He won from Jaunpur, narrowly defeating his
rival from the Samajwadi Party.

Similarly, Ram Vilas Vedanti, who now blames Kalyan Singh for his
defeat, has been quite successful until the last election.
Vedanti, head of Vashist Bhavan, Ayodhya, always made an
exhibition of his power and status in the temple town.

He would lie on a tiger skin and unlike his colleagues, always
had young girls (instead of boys) to press his feet. The swami,
who defeated Rani Ratna Singh, daughter of late Congress Union
Minister Dinesh Singh in Pratapgarh in 1998, opted out of the
constituency for Machlishahar. He lost to the BSP.

Uma Bharti is perhaps the most successful sanyasin, whose
transition from 'tapasya' to 'rajpath' has been fairly smooth.
However, Bharti too was not spared the indignity of a scandal
when jealous partymen, aghast at her rising popularity, linked
her with a senior colleague. Sakshi Maharaj was also linked to
the murder of a BJP MLA, Brahmdutt Dwivedi, in 1996 and though he
was pinned down as the main suspect even by the United Front
government in the Centre, he has wriggled out of the case
unscathed.

So far, the swamis have displayed uncanny resilence and staying
power, but as long as they continue to sit on the back benches,
the message they send out is clear: their time is not yet come. ENDS

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SOUTH ASIA CITIZENS WEB DISPATCH is an informal, independent &
non-profit citizens wire service run by South Asia Citizens Web
(http://www.mnet.fr/aiindex) since1996.