Rahul’s Babri salvo boomerangs as SP turns the tables on Cong

NEW DELHI: The Samajwadi Party on Wednesday used Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Babri formulation’ to question Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and other senior ministers’ commitment to secularism.

Stepping up the attack on the Congress over Mr Gandhi’s statement that the disputed structure would not have been demolished had a Gandhi legatee been in charge at the Centre, the SP said the Congress should explain the role of the Prime Minister, who was part of the Narasimha Rao team during the Babri demolition.

“Manmohan Singh, Pranab Mukherjee and Arjun Singh were part of the Rao government. The Congress should explain their conduct,” the SP spokesman said.

With Rahul Gandhi reviving the old debate, the SP’s response clearly suggested that it will flog the issue to consolidate its support among Muslims.

The SP spokesman, who alleged that the Congress was also part of the conspiracy to demolish the structure, said it was the Congress that ‘opened the locks’ of the structure in 1986. “In 1989, Rajiv Gandhi
kicked off his campaign for the general elections from Ayodhya. It was clearly aimed at appeasing Hindus,” the SP spokesman said.

Rahul Gandhi’s statement has been puzzling for many as the reopening of the issue has made the Congress more vulnerable to attacks. While the BJP has been using it to suggest that Hindu interests are not safe in Congress hands, parties like the SP have found in it an opportunity to question the Congress’ track record.

With the Congress still on the look-out for a core vote in Uttar Pradesh, many feel that Rahul Gandhi’s statement would put the party at a disadvantage. As it is, the Congress is having to battle many ‘negatives’. In UP, which has a substantial upper-caste population, the quota decision of the Congress has widened the distance between this constituency and the party.

In UP, where caste decides the outcome of elections, Mr Gandhi’s call to rise above caste considerations will have little impact. Even his own party is struggling to strike the correct caste balance to try and get a slice of the electoral pie.