 "Is Ram temple no longer a core issue for BJP?")
On Tuesday, at a meeting called in Haridwar by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), it was decided to approach the Union government led by Narendra Modi to push them for building a Ram Temple at Ayodhya. A resolution was also passed asking the Centre to enact a legislation that clears way for the temple construction “at the birthplace of Lord Ram”.
“BJP was given a mandate not just for development, but also to deliver on these core issues. The government should remember what happened to the NDA-I government when it did not keep its promises. The government has to construct temple for its political survival”, said one VHP leader.
The VHP release also added that the saints declared that they would not let a mosque or any Islamic cultural centre or monument to be built within the “cultural boundaries of Ayodhya.”
This demand was swiftly countered by BJP President Amit Shah at a press conference in Delhi when he said, “We have not got enough mandate to address core issues. We need 370 seats, according to the Constitution, to address these, (issues like uniform civil code and Ram Mandir)”. He was responding to a question asked by a journalist which was not related to the VHP resolution.
The Ram Mandir has been one of the core issues for the BJP and the larger Sangh Parivar along with Uniform Civil Code and abrogation of Article 370 that applies to Jammu & Kashmir. The Ram Mandir is especially important because it is the one issue which enabled BJP to capture public imagination since the mid-1980s under the leadership of Lal Krishna Advani and subsequently propelled it to become a major political player.
A committee was formed in 1984, led by VHP, to “liberate” the birth-place of Lord Ram and build a “grand” temple at the spot. The political face of this campaign to build the Ram Temple was the BJP. In 1986, LK Advani became the BJP President. The BJP had been reduced to just 2 MPs in the 1984 elections. In his effort to make the BJP politically relevant, LK Advani took over the leadership of the Ram Janmabhomi (RJB) movement. The entire RJB movement received a huge shot in the arm, when in 1987, Doordarshan, the public broadcaster decided to ignore the policy of not having religious programming on national television. In January, 1987, Ramayan started appearing on Indian television sets and gave the RJB Movement a boost. In the general elections held in 1989, BJP under LK Advani, was able to capture 85 seats (up from 2 in 1984). The 1989 elections also “witnessed the worst ever communal violence in independent India's electoral history and took a massive toll of 800 lives in the Hindi belt”.
The period from 1989 to 1991 was also a period of political instability in the country and LK Advani sensed a chance for the BJP to increase its presence, riding on the Ram Temple issue. The RathYatra (in a modified Toyota bus to educate the masses about the Ram Temple issue), started in September 1990 from Somnath (the site of another famous Hindu temple which had been demolished by invaders and then rebuilt post independence). The RathYatra left behind a trail of riots wherever it went. It was halted by the Lalu Yadav govt in Samastipur in Bihar on Oct 23, 1990 when his govt arrested Advani. In the next general elections held in 1991, the BJP seat tally went up to 120.
On 6 December, 1992 at rally organized by BJP, VHP and RSS at the disputed site to do KarSeva, the mosque was demolished by a frenzied mob. This was followed by widespread communal riots across cities and states in the country most notably Bombay (now Mumbai). In 1993, the govt took over the 67 acres of land around the site and sought the opinion of the Supreme Court about the existence of a Hindu temple at the site before the structure had been built in 1528. The case went to the Allahabad HC in 1994 which asked the ASI in 2002 to find out of a temple existed before the mosque. The ASI report of August 2003, concluded that proof of temple was found at Ayodhya. In the year 2010, the high court awarded two thirds of the site to Hindu parties and one-third to the Waqf Board. The Supreme Court stayed this verdict in 2011 and status quo has been maintained since.
The BJP has been in power at both the Centre and the state of UP since the dispute started in the late 80s and the strongest supporters of the RJB movement have been critical of BJP’s role in resolving the issue in the favor of the Ram temple supporters. The issue which was at the core of the BJP’s ideological moorings and its political gains is now on the political back burner. This prompts other sections of the Sangh Parivar to question BJP’s commitment to the issue and also demand from its leaders a quick resolution of the same.
It has not helped that various leaders including the (now) BJP President have committed to the building of a grand Ram Temple at the site during the election campaign for 2014 general elections. The PM, Narendra Modi was even one of the chief organizers of the original Rath Yatra undertaken by LK Advani in 1990. As the court case drags, the VHP and others seek a solution in the Parliament.
The Ram Temple at Ayodhya has been less and less of an electoral issue over the last 20 years having been one major issue in the 1989 and 1991 elections. This perhaps explains the BJP’s reluctance to commit to it when in government. It is an issue which has been a permanent feature of its election campaigns if not directly, then indirectly. It perhaps makes sense for Prime Minister Modi and his govt to ignore this issue at present. The BJP govt at the centre has faced criticism for the statements made by its ministers and has been accused of fostering anti-minority sentiments when it came to issues such as Love Jihad and Ghar Wapasi.
The broader Sangh Parivar including the VHP on the other hand might argue that the BJP is now shifting the goalpost. Now that it has a simple majority and is not bound by coalition compulsions, it is talking of 370 MPs rather than making sincere efforts to solve the Ram Temple issue in the Parliament with whatever numbers it has, as it has attempted to do in case of the Land Bill. This raises question marks over the sincerity of the BJP leaders on the issue of building a grand Ram Temple at Ayodhya. The opposition too has said that the Ram Temple is only an issue of political convenience which it will continue to use in elections as long as it can.
With his statement about the BJP not having the mandate for building a Ram Temple, Amit Shah would have disappointed those who have fought for it in the last three decades. This however means little in hard political costs. That in itself tells you how much of a “core issue” it now is for the BJP.
Twitter: @bhayankur