Ayodhya: Battle for Peace - Taking a closer view at the dispute and politics

Did Manmohan Singh reject Sonia's nominee as Lok Sabha Speaker?
Did Atal Behari Vajpayee oppose L K Advani over alliance with Shiv Sena?
- Answer to these questions are in the book 'Ayodhya: Battle For Peace' penned by your's truly this blogger --- ha ha Nirendra Dev.

- Into his second term since 2009, the Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh is getting more assertive and “persuasive in pushing his personal preferences”. "Grapevine is a senior parliamentarian was denied the Lok Sabha Speaker’s post in 2009 even after his name was cleared formally by UPA alliance in a joint sitting,” it says.
“If the conjectures are to be believed, NCP chief Sharad Pawar,
Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee and even top Congress leaders had
reportedly complimented the said member for being chosen for the
coveted office in June 2009; when Dr Singh threw in the Dalit-woman
card to elevate his ‘Water Resources Minister’ Meira Kumar for the key
job,” says the book, a publication of New Delhi-based Har-Anand
Publication.
It further says, Dr Singh’s admirers are reported to have floated the
theory that the 2009 mandate for UPA was in effect a mandate for him. His media advisor has already spoken against Congress in a public function; and yet continues to enjoy the Prime Minister’s confidence."
Among other things it argues “the overall future cannot be very good for the communal forces in South Asia” and cites the illustration of the return of Sheikh Hasina regime in Bangladesh in 2008 as a glaring instance.
“The manner in which people responded to the September 30 ruling offers enough reasons to keep the secular disposition optimistic that the days of fundamentalism are numbered for the common man has had enough of it and long since rejected the same".
It also throws light on politics of Rath Yatra of BJP stalwart Advani and in the context of alliance building with Shiv Sena, says, "when he (Advani)and Pramod Mahajan floated the idea of an alliance with Shiv Sena, there was strong opposition from the likes of Jaswant Singh and to an extent by Atal Bihari Vajpayee himself. However, Advani reportedly argued that in the past Congress and socialists had joined hands with Sena to end the leftists’ control on the trade union politics."

Amid high drama in national polity over scams and alleged 'Hindu
terror' under RSS, the book also cautions Congress against going
overboard on ‘Hindu terror’ saying in the process Congress is only
preparing the ground "for political polarization (based on religions)"
"The Hindus in general are anguished as well as shell-shocked at the
allegation that their faith, known for its tolerance, is being linked
to terrorism. They believe the Congress party led by a Christian and
that too a foreign lady is indulging in politics to defame the Hindu
organizations and thus win over its lost support base among the
Muslims. There was a deliberate attempt to blow up the issue of ‘Hindu
terror’ just on the eve of beginning of monsoon session of parliament
in 2010".
"The Muslims should learn to live in harmony as the confrontationist
path does them no good," it says.
(ends)