Fear of ISI, caste card tempered mahant down

new delhi: the bjp-led government attributed its ‘‘success’’ in ensuring peaceful passage of the day in ayodhya on friday to two factors: the attorney general’s submission in the supreme court, and a cabinet secretariat official heading the ayodhya cell, shatrughan singh, receiving the shila from ramchandra paramhans in ayodhya. ‘‘i can’t say we have made any gains, but we have made no losses either,’’ a senior minister said.clearly, the symbolism of the country’s seniormost law officer pleading the vhp case, and the pm’s representative facilitating shila daan went some way towards appeasing the vhp/rjn, and made a climbdown in the scale and nature of the ceremony possible. government sources said singh was deputed to receive the shila after it was realised that faizabad commissioner anil gupta’s receiving it might be interpreted as violative of the apex court ruling. gupta is the official receiver and custodian of the acquired land. besides, gupta had become a hate figure with the vhp/rjn as he had imposed the curbs in the town, and paramhans wanted ‘‘someone important’’ from delhi to receive the shila which will now be in the custody of the faizabad district administration till the title suit is decided. but the isi and caste factors also seem to have helped. the vhp appears to have been persuaded into recognising that there was a serious threat from isi-backed terrorists and unless the ceremony build-up was reduced, the terrorists might ‘‘infiltrate’’ its ranks, cause trouble and damage its image. as for the caste factor, not just external affairs minister jaswant singh and former up chief minister rajnath singh but even former prime minister chandra shekhar was roped in to persuade paramhans, a thakur, to withdraw his suicide threat. at the end of the day, the pm telephoned governor vishnu kant shastri to congratulate him for his handling of the issue and expressed his appreciation of the state administration in controlling the situation in ayodhya and the state. but this clearly is not the end of the story. the vhp wants kar sewaks to go to ayodhya on march 24 for the conclusion of the purnahuti yagya.