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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Screenwriter Salim Khan on ventilator support and stable, say doctors
Mumbai (PTI): Veteran screenwriter Salim Khan suffered a brain haemorrhage which has been tackled, is on ventilator support as a safeguard and stable, doctors treating him said on Wednesday, a day after he was admitted to the Lilavati Hospital here.
The 90-year-old, one half of the celebrated Salim-Javed duo which scripted films such as "Sholay", "Deewar" and "Don" with Javed Akhtar, is in the ICU and recovery might take some time given his age.
"His blood pressure was high for which we treated him and we had to put him on a ventilator because we wanted to do certain investigations. Now the ventilator was put as a safeguard so that his situation doesn't get worse. So it is not that he is critical," Dr Jalil Parkar told reporters.
"We did the investigations that were required and today we have done a small procedure on him, I will not go into the details. The procedure done is called DSA (digital subtraction angiography). The procedure has been accomplished, he is fine and stable and shifted back to ICU. By tomorrow, we hope to get him off the ventilator. All in all, he is doing quite well," he added.
Asked whether he suffered a brain haemorrhage, the doctor said, "Unko thoda haemorrhage hua tha, which we’ve tackled. No surgery is required.
As concern over Khan's health mounted, his children, including superstar Salman Khan and Arbaaz Khan, daughter Alvira, and sons-in-law Atul Agnihotri and Aayush Sharma, have been seen outside the hospital along with other well-wishers. His long-time partner Akhtar was also seen coming out of the hospital.
Khan, a household name in the 70s and 80s, turned 90 on November 24 last year. It was the day Dharmendra, the star of many of his films, including "Sholay", "Seeta aur Geeta" and "Yaadon Ki Baraat", passed away.
Hailing from an affluent family in Indore, Khan arrived in Mumbai in his 20s with dreams of stardom. He was good looking and confident he would make a mark in the industry as an actor. But that did not happen. And then, after struggling for close to a decade and getting confined to small roles in films, he changed lanes.
He worked as an assistant to Abrar Alvi and soon met Akhtar to form one of Hindi cinema's most formidable writing partnerships. They worked together on two dozen movies with most of them achieving blockbuster status.
Other than "Sholay", "Deewar" and "Don", Khan and Akhtar also penned "Trishul", "Zanjeer", "Seeta Aur Geeta", "Haathi Mere Saathi", "Yaadon Ki Baarat" and "Mr India".
