Too many irons in Ayodhya fire: How Narendra Modi is managing the dispute

Modi's trying to manage the dispute while keeping the VHP at a distance but his own motivations and the issue's volatility ensure a straight course is unlikely

When Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, the Art of Living Foundation maker, initiated an effort to “resolve” the Ayodhya tangle, he joined a line of past negotiators that included ‘tantrik’ Chandraswami and Jayendra Saraswathi, pontiff of the Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham. 

There’s a difference, though. Chandraswami and the Kanchi Shankaracharya were directly engaged by former prime ministers Narasimha Rao and Atal Behari Vajpayee, respectively, when the Ayodhya dispute became too much of a hot potato to hold. It’s unclear if the spiritual guru from Bengaluru was empowered by the Narendra Modi government to begin talks on Ayodhya with the Shia Waqf Board earlier this year and pursue the exercise with other stakeholders. 

A well-placed government source denied “overt” sanction, adding, “Such developments are welcomed by us because they blunt the disruptions caused by hardliners from both sides.” An indication that the Modi dispensation was disinclined to bring the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) into the temple-mosque frame. For fear that if it did, the latter’s hotheads, lately turned to other faith-related causes like a ban on cow killing and conversions, might revert to Ayodhya, re-invigorated, and trigger an unwanted crisis.

That the dynamic governing the BJP-VHP equation were changing subtly but surely was evident when Sri Sri called on Yogi Adityanath, the Uttar Pradesh chief minister, this Wednesday. Adityanath’s mentor, Avaidyanath, had helmed the Ramjanmabhoomi Nyas or trust, created to oversee construction of the Ram temple on the site of the demolished Babri mosque. The Yogi participated in the temple movement as a youth and unfailingly attended every ‘dharma sansad’ or religious parliament the VHP convened, without being its member.

As a CM, his response on the  tête-à-tête with Sri Sri was  tactful but with a hint that his heart was resolutely with  Hindutva proponents. He was quoted welcoming “efforts at any level” but took a swipe at “one side” (read the Muslims) for “running away from such discussion”. Vinay Katiyar, the Bharatiya Janata Party MP known for militant advocacy of a Ram temple, said when Sri Sri met him, he “bluntly” told him the Shia Waqf Board he was talking with had no locus standi in the Ayodhya legal cases. “The real parties to speak to are the Sunni Waqf Board and the Babri Masjid Action Committee,” said Katiyar. He also quoted to Sri Sri the Allahabad High Court ruling of October 2010 that the land which housed the mosque should be divided three ways, between the two Hindu litigants and the Sunni Waqf Board. “I told him the board should relinquish its claim to end the problem,” said Katiyar, former chief of the Bajrang Dal, the VHP’s bellicose arm.

In the Modi regime, the Ayodhya developments were apparently pulling in three directions: Yogi’s dual identity as a CM and a ‘Hindutvawaadi’, the VHP’s unwillingness to stay in business and the PM’s strategy to marginalise the VHP.  Yogi’s test awaits when the VHP holds a ‘dharma sansad’ in Udupi on November 24 to 26. Champat Rai, its secretary general (international), wasn’t sure he would. “Today, he’s not just a sadhu but the head of an important state,” said Rai. 

Swami Nritya Gopal Das of Ayodhya, who heads the Ramjanmabhoomi Trust, was emphatic that the Modi government, Yogi and the VHP were one entity. “We will never get a combination like this again. Modi’s values are different from Vajpayee’s.  This is the most opportune time to build a temple,” he said. 

The PM might not share this exuberance. As Gujarat chief minister, he’d sidelined the VHP and its feisty leader, Praveen Togadia and demolished numerous wayside temples in Gandhinagar. Before the 2014 election, he built another bridge with a Hindutva constituency, independent of the VHP. He projected tele-evangelist Baba Ramdev, Ramesh Ojha of Gujarat, and later Sri Sri. Now, he projecting Yogi as Hindutva icon. This month, his Mauritius vounterpart, Pravin Jugnauth, personally requested Modi to send Yogi as chief guest for the island’s Regional Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas. 

NARENDRA MODI & FRINGE ELEMENTS

Some unfortunate comments (on ghar wapasi) have been made, which were totally uncalled for. Our constitution guarantees religious freedom to every citizen and that is not negotiable — June 2015 

I get so angry at those who are in the gau rakshak business. A gau bhakt (cow devotee) is different, gau seva (cow protection) is different. I have seen that some people commit all kinds of crimes at night and wear the garb of gau rakshaks by day — August 2016  

Violence in the name of gau bhakti is antithetical to Mahatma Gandhi’s views — June 2017 

Some anti-social elements have made cow protection a medium for spreading anarchy. People involved in disturbing harmony in the country are also taking advantage of it —July, 2017