NEW DELHI, 17 March — Rhetoric exercised by Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee to convince the Parliament on Friday about the government having “successfully” handled the Gujarat and Ayodhya situations was yesterday defeated by inglorious activities exhibited by the extremist Vishwa Hindu Parishad militants in the southwestern Gujarat and southeastern Orissa states. If VHP displayed its communal venom in Gujarat provoking riots again, in Orissa it targeted the state legislature.
Hundreds of militants from hard-line Hindu groups yesterday vandalized the legislature building in Orissa in protest at alleged remarks by lawmakers opposing the temple-building campaign in the northern Uttar Pradesh town of Ayodhya, officials said.
Militants of VHP, which is spearheading the temple-building movement, and another extremist Hindu group, the Bajrang Dal, broke through police cordons and attacked the assembly in the state capital of Bhubaneshwar.
Officials from Bhubaneshwar said the militants also attacked the office of Orissa state Chief Minister Navin Patnaik to protest remarks purportedly made by his lawmakers against the VHP’s plans to build a temple on the ruins of the 16th century Babri Mosque in Ayodhya.
The raiders, including a number of women, destroyed nameplates and smashed windowpanes and flower pots before they were beaten back by state legislators and their personal staff, the officials said.
The Press Trust of India news agency said the legislators, angry with the poor response of security men who were supposed to be guarding the assembly, also chased away senior police officials when they arrived with anti-riot personnel. The police arrested around 100 of the attackers.
Meanwhile, Vajpayee said yesterday his government had managed to contain the powder keg issue of Ayodhya, but added the dispute was a “festering wound” which had to be eradicated to maintain communal harmony.
The government had breathed a sigh of relief when the controversial religious ceremony by militant Hindus on the site of Babri Mosque fizzled out on Friday.
