NO COMMUNAL ELEMENTS IF WE HAD COMMUNAL VIOLENCE LEGISLATION

Justice Manmohan Singh Liberhan’s 17-year mission hasn’t burdened the Congress much with administrative dilemmas like punitive action against Sangh parivar rivals, but has given it enough fodder to torment its main adversary for a long time to come. A hint of what the ruling party intends to do with the report came from Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi. “This is the past of the BJP, this is the present and this is the future,” he said after the report had underscored the need to separate politics from religion. Although the government’s action taken report (ATR) laden with phrases like “agreed”, “accepted” and “noted” suggests no concrete action might be taken, sources in the ruling party made no attempt to hide their glee at Liberhan’s secular sermons. Singhvi went to the extent of saying that communal elements would have been wiped out of India’s political scene had the legislation on communal violence been in the statute book at the time of the Ayodhya movement.