Ayodhya: When India met Bharat…

Mostly India and Bharat go their separate ways, but sometimes trajectories collide. One such occasion was Thursday, 30 September 2010 when the Allahabad High Court passed judgment on the long-pending Ayodhya title suits.

Anxious to avoid a situation where, in a surcharged atmosphere, rumours and disinformation could be set into motion through bad management of information processes, the Allahabad High Court, and the district administration, set up an elaborate structure designed to supply the judgment promptly to the nation, and to a foreign audience.

It was arranged that printed copies of the summary, or the operative part of the judgment, would be made available to the waiting media hordes outside the court premises within 45 minutes of the judgment being pronounced. The judgment itself would be made available online at two different sites for easy access.

So far so good, for India was putting its best foot forward. But then it ran straight into Bharat.

Even as they were stepping out of the precincts of the court, two counsels for the Hindu Mahasabha rushed to the media centre to be the first to present their version of the judgment. Incredibly, they created such a cacophony, in their bid to outshine and outshout each other, that nothing was comprehensible.

A massive team of junior lawyers (the inevitable crowd that is forever milling around on a podium at all 'Indian' occasions - the great Indian tamasha) standing behind them kept flashing 'V for victory' signs vitiating a tense atmosphere. Given the sensitivities of the occasion, the act was tantamount to rubbing it in the faces of the 'losing' side. India collapsed on that well-prepared stage under the massive shamiana. With photographers jumping out of their seats and crowding the stage, Bharat had taken over and yet another episode of the great Indian tamasha was on display.