Big guns fall silent in Uttar Pradesh

LUCKNOW: The big news is that it''s allpeaceful here all too suddenly. Chief Minister Mayawati and her mentor,Kansiram, have been away in Mumbai effectively to extend the influence of theirparty beyond the borders of Uttar Pradesh, while Mulayam Singh Yadav and hislieutenants were busy holding the special session of their party''s nationalexecutive in Agra. And former prime minister Chandrashekhar was seenrubbing shoulders with Nanaji Deshmukh at Chitrakoot where the formerinaugurated a concrete road built out of the latter''s MP fund onSunday.Indeed, there are reasons why the guns have fallen silent.First, it''s holi time. Second, all major political players think it wise to keepthemselves engaged in the waiting game till the ''truth'' is unearthed through therather slow, painstaking excavation process at Ayodhya. And third,believe it or not, they are all silently preparing for a snap Lok Sabhaelections. The current view in Opposition circles is that both theSangh Parivar and the Vajpayee government are working in tandem to recreate apro-temple wave in the country. If something is found deep under thesurface at Ayodhya, the VHP''s temple movement will get a big boost. And even ifnothing big is found therein by October this year, the Union government has inany case moved the Supreme Court to get the stay order on the ''undisputed'' partof the land vacated. In the meantime, the VHP is preparing for its Delhi''satyagraha'' on March 27.Ironically, the BJP also views the overallpolitical scenario from the same angle. Party leaders don''t say so in as manywords but they do put it on record that they have to be prepared to face theelectorate all the time. At the moment, their honeymoon with the BSPcontinues, giving them the hope for a Dalit-upper caste consolidation in theirfavour. Should their tie-up with the BSP come to an abrupt end, the proposed Ramwave would carry them through, the BJP leaders feel.But MulayamSingh Yadav is a past-master at gauging the winds beforehand. He has anticipatedthat his main rival next time would be the BJP and not the BSP, unlike theprevious Assembly elections when the BJP was relegated to the third spot.Little wonder then that the Samajwadi Party chief trained his gunsmainly on the BJP during the special session of his party''s national executiveat Agra.He said that it was because of the BJP that the nation ingeneral and the state in particular had come to such a sorry pass. It was timethe BJP was thrown out of power from Delhi to Lucknow, he added.TheBSP is no less alert. It is keeping its options open vis-a-vis the BJP. Littlewonder then that the party supremo Kansiram appealed to the Dalits inMaharashtra to accept Buddhism as their religion just like Babasaheb BhimraoAmbedkar had done decades ago. On her part, Mayawati has already stepped up heranti-Manuwadi tirade.