Tuesday November 24, 2009, New DelhiFor the government, the Liberhan Report is a windfall.
The contents of the report indict the BJP's top leaders, and in doing so, have forced the Opposition to scatter just days after it presented a united front.
The government's new policy over sugarcane prices had seen every party from the Left to the Right protesting loudly. Even some of the government's allies like Mamata Banerjee and Tamil Nadu's DMK joined in.
But the Liberhan Report has brought back sharp divisions. In the Rajya Sabah, as BJP MPs shouted "Jai Shri Ram," the Samajawadi Party's Amar Singh swung into action, attacking the BJP's SS Ahluwalia. It was a clear move by Amar Singh to play to his Muslim vote bank. The scuffle that followed shocked the House; all parties involved later apologized.
But there is no truce now. Rising prices and the 4000-crore corruption charges against former Jharkhand chief minister Madhu Koda guarantee a rough winter session of Parliament. But even on these gigantic issues, the Left and others may not want to be on the same side as the BJP, in the wake of the Liberhan Report slamming the party for "leading the country to the brink of communal discord."
As for the BJP, the Liberhan Report isn't all bad. It gives the Sangh Parivaar, recently riddled with infighting, a much-needed cause to rally around. The fact that former prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee has been named in the report as one of 68 people culpable of creating commuinal discord means the BJP can challenge the report, and more importantly, galvanize its cadres. Vajpayee, is after all, still the party's greatest draw, in many ways.
It's in Uttar Pradesh, though, where political equations will change the most from the Liberhan Report. BJP sources believe the party's Hindutva credentials have been revived, and may help revive its fortunes here. The Samajwadi Party hopes to use the report to prove to its Muslim voters that it was right in divorcing Kalyan Singh, the man who was the BJP's chief minister in UP during the Babri Masjid demolition, and who shared a brief alliance with the Samjawadi Party this year.
1. Acharya Dharamendra Dev, Dharam Sansad
2. Acharya Giriraj Kishore, VHP
3. A.K. Saran, IG. Security, Uttar Pradesh
4. Akhilesh Mehrotra, Additional Superintendent of Police, Faizabad
5. Ashok Singhal, VHP
6. Ashok Sinha, Secretary, Tourism, Uttar Pradesh
7. Atal Bihari Vajpayee, BJP
8. Badri Prasad Toshniwal, VHP
9. Baikunth Lal Sharma, VHP
10. Balasaheb Thackeray, Shiv Sena
11. B.P. Singhal, VHP
12. Braham Dutt Divedi, BJP, Revenue Minister, Uttar Pradesh
13. Champat Rai, Local Construction Manager
14. Dau Dayal Khanna, BJP
15. D.B. Roy, Senior Superintendent of Police, Faizabad
16. Devraha Baba, Sant Samaj
17. Gurjan Singh, VHP/RSS
18. G.M. Lodha, BJP
19. S. Govindacharya, RSS
20. H.V. Sheshadri, RSS
21. Jai Bhhagwan Goyal, Shiv Sena
22. Jai Bhan Singh Pawaria, Bajrang Dal
23. K.S. Sudarshan, RSS
24. Kalraj Mishra, BJP
25. Kalyan Singh, BJP (Chief Minister)
26. Khushabhau Thakre, RSS
27. Lalji Tandon, BJP, Energy Minister, Uttar Pradesh
28. Lallu Singh Chauhan, BJP
29. L.K. Advani, BJP
30. Mahant Avaidyanath, Hindu Mahasaba
31. Mahant Nritya Gopal Das, Ram Janmabhoomi Nyas
32. Mahant Paramhans Ram Chander Dass, VHP
33. Moreshwar Dinanant Save, Shiv Sena
34. Morpanth Pingale, Shiv Sena
35. Murli Manohar Joshi, BJP
36. Om Pratap Singh
37. Onkar Bhava, VHP
38. Pramod Mahajan, BJP
39. Parveen Togadia, VHP
40. Prabhat Kumar, Principal Secretary, Home, Uttar Pradesh
41. Purshottam Narain Singh, VHP
42. Rajendra Gupta, Minister, Uttar Pradesh
43. Rajender Singh alias Rajju Bhayya RSS
44. Ram Shankar Agnihotri, VHP
45. Ram Vilas Vedanti, Sant Samaj
46. R.K. Gupta, BJP, Finance Minister, Uttar Pradesh
47. R.N. Shrivastava, District Magistrate, Faizabad
48. Sadhvi Ritambara, Sant Samaj
49. Shankar Singh Vaghela, BJP
50. Satish Pradhan, Shiv Sena
51. Shri Chander Dikshit, BJP
52. Sita Ram Agarwal
53. S.P. Gaur, Commissioner, Uttar Pradesh
54. Sunder Singh Bhandari, BJP
55. Surya Pratap Sahi, Minister, Uttar Pradesh
56. Swami Chinmayanand, VHP
57. Swami Sachidanand Sakshi alias Sakshiji Maharaj, BJP
58. S.V.M. Tripathi, Director General of Police, Uttar Pradesh
59. Swami Satmit Ramji, Sant Samaj
60. Swami Satyanandji, Sant Samaj
61. Swami Vam Devji, Sant Samaj
62. Uma Bharti, VHP
63. U.P. Bajpayee, Deputy Inspector General, Faizabad
64. Vijaya Raje Scindia, BJP
65. V.K. Saxena, Chief Secretary, Uttar Pradesh
66. Vinay Katiyar, RSS
67. Vishnu Hari Dalmia, VHP
68. Youdh Nath Pandey, Shiv Sena