BUSINESSMEN AGAINST MANDIR-MASJID POLITICS

Lucknow is another state capital where local businessmen suffered losses exceeding Rs. 500 crores. What worries them even more is a sense of uncertainty about the future as they apprehend another round of violence if the prevailing communal tension in the city and adjoining areas like Ayodhya and Kanpur is allowed to persist. Mr AK Aggarwal, executive director of Indian industries association says.' 'If the situation is allowed to remain like this the state's economy will be hit hard.' According to Mr Banwari Lal Kanchchal, general secretary, Lucknow Vyapar Mandal, the economy of the state has already been pushed back by about 10 years. FEAR OF VIOLENCE: The fears of future violence have motivated businessmen to speak up against politics of communalism. Mr Sandeep Bansal, president of Lucknow's Yuva Vyapar Mandal and an active member of the BJP says that all political parties should desist from taking those steps which militate against interests of trade and business and that communal co-existence is necessary for the all-round development of the state. This view is articulated more sharply in Bangalore where all the businessmen and traders who spoke to The Times of India are vehemently opposed to the politics of communalism. Mr Abdus Subhan, a shopkeeper in Russel market bemoaned that politicians were exploiting issues like Ayodhya for their selfish ends and this kind of politicking must stop. POLITICAL ISSUE: Likewise most traders in Bhopal do not see Ayodhya as a religious issue. Mr. Ajay Kumar, who runs a general store says 'It is clear that this is nothing but politics. Who cares about religion. Politicians are only interested in Ayodhya because it means votes on either side. Businessmen and traders across the country are fairly united in advocating that religious issues must be kept out of politics and all cases of disputes should be resolved peacefully and within the parameters laid down by the Constitution. The president of Karanataka Small Industries Association, Mr D.N. Gangadhar argues that religion is a purely individualistic subject and politicians should not meddle with it and the secularism means that religion and politics are kept apart. Mr. Bimal Poddar, branch manager of Caprihans India in Ahmedabad, blames all political parties for making a mess of the Ayodhya issue, which he contends should be settled in a constitutional manner. CENTRE'S FAILURE: Most traders and businessmen are also critical of the government's failure in checking communal riots and the breakdown of the law and order machinery. Mr Satish Chandra Patel, a small engineering goods' seller in Indore says good governance means that the politician-police-criminal nexus should be broken. It is not just the prospect of losses that makes businessmen wary of communalism but the fact that it is unsustainable as in most manufacturing and trading activities both Hindus and Muslims form a complex web of interdependence which is critical to the very survival of business. In the gems and jewellery industry of Jaipur for instance, while a majority of traders are Hindus, the cutting, polishing and packaging work is done mostly by Muslims. Likewise the powerloom sector in Gujarat is dependent on workmen from both the communities. The same situation obtains in most other places from Bombay to Bhopal and Indore to Lucknow. As the BJP activist in Lucknow, Mr Sandeep Bansal puts it, 'The people of the two communities are so dependent on each other that their co-existence is necessary for the prosperity of trade and industry.' (The Times of India, February 8, 1993)