MIGHT IS RIGHT: VHP activists at the Orissa Assembly

The Orissa Assembly, like most legislative complexes in the wake of the December 13 attack on Parliament, resembles a fortress. But the heightened security measures at Bhubaneswar's assembly compound failed to secure its sanctity. It did not take terrorists on a suicidal mission but some lumpen rabble-rousers under the banners of Viswa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and the Bajrang Dal to breach the security arrangements. They easily overpowered the security staff at the gates and went on a rampage inside the House. For almost half an hour, the miscreants ransacked the building, triggering a countrywide outrage. There were no deaths, no one was even injured but much had been lost. Only once earlier had something of this sort happened -in 1969 when police rioted inside the West Bengal Assembly in protest against the killing of one of their colleagues. "It's a blot," regretted Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

It was more an intra-party feud. Members of the Sangh Parivar have many grouses against the BJP and, therefore, targeted the Government of its ally, Naveen Patnaik's Biju Janata Dal. The state VHP President Bipin Behari Rath had been cold-shouldered by the Orissa BJP
ever since he lost the elections. State Bajrang Dal Convener Bhuban Mohan Jena was denied a BJP ticket from Kendrapara as was senior leader Pratap Sarangi from Nilgiri during the last assembly polls. Given the short shrift by the ruling clique led by zonal chief Rabindra Mohan Pratihari in the state RSS which manages the affairs of the BJP, the VHP and Bajrang Dal leaders turned dissidents. When the VHP cadres stormed the Assembly, a BJP Legislature Party meeting was in session inside the Assembly complex and in attendance were Union Minister Juel Oram and BJP National Vice-President Kailashpati Mishra.

The VHP-Bajrang Dal misadventure has strained the already shaky BJD-BJP coalition. Six BJP legislators deliberately flouted Naveen's writ by proposing the nomination of his bete noire and former Union minister Dilip Ray as an independent candidate for the Rajya Sabha polls. The chief minister obviously wasn't amused. "None would be spared," he thundered, adding that even if the guilty was a Union minister or a former Union minister, he would be brought to book. But theatrics apart, the lure of power will ensure that the BJP-BJD coalition weathers the VHP storm.