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Calls for Ram Mandir get louder after SC offers 'out-of-court' settlement

Charu Kartikeya | Updated on: 27 March 2017, 19:46 IST
(Arya Sharma/Catch News)

The Supreme Court's latest view favouring an out of court settlement of the Ram Mandir case couldn't have come at a better time for the BJP and other affiliates of the Sangh Parivar. 

It is one among three events that have contributed to the clamour on the construction of the temple, which has suddenly gone up. The other two are the BJP's thumping victory in the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls and the appointment of Adityanath Yogi as the Chief Minister of the state.

The chanting gets louder

26 March saw clarion calls for the construction of the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya issued from several parts of the country and by several stalwarts of the parivar simultaneously. 

From Adityanath himself on ground zero to BJP MP Subramanian Swamy a little further away in Bihar and Vishwa Hindu Parishad chief Praveen Togadia in Gujarat, Ram and his mandir were the thoughts of the day.

Statements made at these events ranged from a silent endorsement of the demand for the temple to asking Muslims to vacate land at the dispute site and to an innovative PPP model to construct the temple. 

Mahant Suresh Das of the Digambar Akhara in Ayodhya, while at the Gorakhnath temple, on 26 March said in the new UP CM's presence that the latter's swearing-in will ensure the construction of Ram Janmabhoomi. He also welcomed the SC's observation but with the rider that “only the Ram temple can be built at the Ram Janmabhoomi, no mosque will be built there”. Adityanath was silent on the issue and only narrated a parable about “Raja Ram”.

In Patna, Swamy organised a convention on “Ram, Ram Mandir  and Hindu Poojan” and used the platform to announce resolutions like “the place for the temple is final and the mosque will have to be built somewhere else”. Swamy assumed the role of the final arbiter on the issue, as he declared that “the Hindus’ belief” that a Ram temple had once existed at the disputed site had been “validated” from different quarters and so “the construction of the temple will begin in the next couple of months”.

On the dais, Swamy was flanked by former RSS ideologue Govindacharya and Director of IGNCA, Ram Bahadur Rai.

 

Both expressed conviction that the temple will soon come up and nothing could stop it.

Togadia announced in Ahmedabad with equal conviction that the Narendra Modi government at the Centre will enact a legislation for construction of the temple. He said it would be a landmark PPP model, whereby the Prime Minister, the Parliament and the People will come together to ensure the construction of the Ram Temple.

‘Out-of-court’

The Ram Temple issue has been a movement for radical Hindus since 1949 but it transformed into a political storm only in the 1990s when BJP took it up as an electoral issue.

The frenzy it generated resulted in the demolition of the Babri Masjid, but the issue did not gather that kind of steam again for the next two decades. 

With the country once again seeing a flurry of events and statements on the issue, is it a sign of things to come?

First published: 27 March 2017, 19:46 IST
 
Charu Kartikeya @CharuKeya

Assistant Editor at Catch, Charu enjoys covering politics and uncovering politicians. Of nine years in journalism, he spent six happily covering Parliament and parliamentarians at Lok Sabha TV and the other three as news anchor at Doordarshan News. A Royal Enfield enthusiast, he dreams of having enough time to roar away towards Ladakh, but for the moment the only miles he's covering are the 20-km stretch between home and work.