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Enough is enough!

Even the Hindu hardliners have had enough. Vajpayee's government, as also that led by his party in Uttar Pradesh under the 'leadership' of a gentleman called Kalyan Singh, they confide, has been a major disappointment.

Thus, we have prominent Hindu bodies like the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal making wrathful noises. They have not been able to begin their activities in UP because of pressure from the Centre. Most of the disenchanted sadhus are now leaving the VHP as they feel the organisation is doing nothing about the Ayodhya temple. Or, for that matter, anything to 'liberate' the Shiva temple in Kashi and Krishna Janmabhoomi in Mathura.

The result? The VHP would like to see the last of Kalyan Singh.

And Kalyan Singh? He too is immensely displeased.

He has warned his officials about VHP leader Giriraj Kishore, and given instructions that any attempt to create tension in Mathura and Ayodhya should be foiled even if it meant arresting top leaders.

Kalyan Singh is wary of the VHP and Bajrang Dal creating problems that would leave his government exposed. He feels they deliberately choose his regime to make trouble. If they so much wanted to settle Mathura and Ayodhya, why didn't they go about it when Mayawati was in power? (It is learnt that she foiled a VHP attempt to organise a yagna at Krishna Janambhoomi in 1994.) Why did they have to wait till he returned?

The chief minister's bad blood with the hardliners is mainly over the VHP's plan to organise a Bal Ramlila at Krishna Janambhoomi in Mathura. So far, Bal Ramlila, staged every year after Dussehra, was being organised at Gandhi park. The organisers tried to shift the venue from the park to Janamsthan, which the district administration did not allow. Several VHP leaders and BJP MLAs wrote to the chief minister to pull up the district administration. An SOS was faxed to Kalyan Singh while he was in Delhi to meet L K Advani.

The organisers' plea was that the present venue was too small to hold such a function. They went to the extent of getting the crown ceremony done at Janmasthan. But the CM did not yield. He conveyed to the district magistrate that the organisers should be arrested if they tried to violate the government directive. Finally, the district administration found a solution by identifying a place near the Janambhoomi for the function.

The chief minister also told the district authorities that the present venue should only be given for this year. From 1999 on, he instructed, the Bal Ramlila should take place at Gandhi park as of old. Kalyan Singh firmly believes that Giriraj Kishore is keener on creating trouble than protecting Hinduism.

So there you have it. The VHP sick of the BJP and vice versa.

On Ayodhya, too, the chief minister wants to maintain status quo. The VHP, for its part, has for the last three months been trying to reinitiate the move to construct the temple. They wanted to organise special pooja on Ram Navami at the Janmasthan and a big yagna later. But the administration warned them against any such activities. In fact, Kalyan Singh even restricted the carving of idols for Ayodhya.

Hindutva leader Vinay Katiyar, therefore, is openly criticising Kalyan Singh. He has conveyed his feelings to the BJP central leadership.

Meanwhile, the Bajrang Dal is going ahead with its destructive temple-construction agitation.

Rajiv Shukla