Sri Sri's Ram Mandir foray a deja vu of Vajpayee's tactic: Book
New Delhi, June 12: Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee kept a distance from the Ram temple movement and in private conversations objected to its agitational stance, according to a new book titled "Shades of Saffron: From Vajpayee to Modi" by seasoned journalist Saba Naqvi.
The book, said to reveal "hitherto unknown aspects" about the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), points out that Vajpayee openly admitted to "being irritated by questions about the Ram temple in Ayodhya".
But Naqvi, who has had the first-hand experience of covering the BJP for well over two decades, contends that "the building of a grand Ram temple was a core issue that the BJP couldn't afford to ignore".
"Vajpayee therefore made a subtle change in tack and said that it was no longer necessary for a BJP government to enact a legislation to build a temple at Ayodhya," Naqvi writes in the book, published by Westland.
"We will resolve the issue through dialogue -- the same way we resolved the Azadari dispute between the Shias and Sunnis of Lucknow. A law will not be needed," Vajpayee, who is currently undergoing treatment for urinary tract infection at the All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS) here, is quoted as saying in the book.
In this context, Naqvi explains that it is fascinating that the "issue is again central to the BJP as it heads for the 2019 general elections" with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the helm.
"There are still legal constraints on the party's desire to build a ‘magnificent Ram temple at Ayodhya' and the same path is again being trod almost two decades later by some individuals like Sri Sri Ravishankar who's trying to get stakeholders to resolve matters," Naqvi notes in the 284-page book.
She also points out that several informed people on both sides say that the long-awaited verdict on the disputed land "could be delivered in 2018", before the general elections.
"What's more, in May 2017, the Supreme Court of India also revived criminal conspiracy charges against senior BJP leaders L.K. Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi and Uma Bharti for bringing down the Babri mosque," she adds.
In the context of Ram mandir, the book also touches upon an earlier conversation between the author and late Kushabhau Thakre, who became party president of the BJP in 1998.
"‘Can anyone think about India without Ram?' he once asked me, but added with utmost honesty that ‘We can only implement our ideology if we have the strength to do so. Yeh sab hamara karyakram hai, lekin shakti nahin hai' (All this is in our agenda but we lack the strength to pursue it)," Naqvi recalls in the book.
Art of Living founder Sri Sri Ravi Shankar had earlier told IANS that the best solution to the festering Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid dispute is an out-of-court settlement under which the Muslims gift the land to the Hindus for building a grand Ram temple.
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Jhansi fire: Nurse's heroic efforts helped save over dozen babies
Lucknow/Jhansi (UP), Nov 17: Nurse Megha James was on duty when the fire broke out at the Jhansi hospital and she threw herself headlong into the rescue efforts, playing a hero's role by saving several babies.
Even when her salwar got burned, she refused to give up and was able to evacuate 14-15 babies with others' help.
"I had gone to take a syringe to give an injection to a child. When I came back, I saw that the (oxygen) concentrator had caught fire. I called the ward boy, who came with the fire extinguisher and tried to put it out. But by then, the fire had spread," James said.
Ten babies perished in a fire that broke out at the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of the Maharani Laxmi Bai Medical College in Jhansi Friday night.
Faced with an enormous blaze, James's mind worked with a frenetic speed, to the extent she cared little about burning herself.
"My chappal caught fire and I burned my foot. Then my salwar caught fire. I removed my salwar and discarded it. At that time, my mind was virtually not working," she told PTI Videos.
James just wore another salwar and went back to the rescue operation.
"There was a lot of smoke, and once the lights went out, we could not see anything. The entire staff brought out at least 14-15 children. There were 11 beds in the ward with 23-24 babies," she said.
Had the lights not gone out they could have saved more children, James said. "It all happened very suddenly. None of us had expected it."
Assistant Nursing Superintendent Nalini Sood praised James's valour and recounted bits from how the rescue operation was carried out.
"The hospital staff broke the glasses of the NICU ward to evacuate the babies. It was then Nurse Megha's salwar caught fire. Instead of caring for her safety, she stayed there to rescue the babies and handed them over to people outside," she said.
Sood said James is currently undergoing treatment at the same medical college. She said she did not know the extent of her burns.
"The rescued babies were shifted to a ward very close to the NICU ward… When I recall the scene, I feel like crying," she said.
Dr Anshul Jain, the head of the anaesthesiology department at the medical college, explained the standard rescue operation and claimed the hospital followed the protocol to the T.
"In the triage process during an ICU evacuation, the policy is to evacuate less-affected patients first. The rationale behind this approach is that patients requiring minimal support can be relocated quickly, enabling a larger number of evacuations to be completed in a shorter time.
"In contrast, patients on ventilators or requiring high oxygen support demand more time and resources for evacuation," he said.
"This principle was successfully implemented in Jhansi, playing a significant role in saving many lives," Jain said.
A newborn rescued from the fire died due to illness on Sunday, Jhansi District Magistrate Avinash Kumar said.
