Over the past month, the rhetoric around the Ram Janmabhoomi–Babri mosque controversy has been on the rise in Uttar Pradesh. If top functionaries of the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh, Vishwa Hindu Parishad and BJP raised the pitch for “resolving” the issue, newly-appointed Governor Ram Naik on Monday stated that he hoped Prime Minister Narendra Modi would pay attention to the complex issue.
At their annual meet in Lucknow last month, the RSS brass had asked Mr. Modi to build a grand Ram temple at the disputed Ayodhya site in the next five years. A few days later, the VHP heated up the issue when its firebrand leader Praveen Togadia said a grand temple would be constructed at Ayodhya “at any cost” as it was a matter of faith and honour for Hindus. Then, the VHP’s Ayodhya convenor expressed the hope for decisiveness on the issue.
However, Governor Ram Naik took political circles by surprise when during his visit to Ayodhya last week he said he hoped to sort out the Ram temple issue by taking both sides into confidence. “So far, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has taken everybody along and is taking care of all major issues. I am sure in the next five years he will pay attention to the Ram Janmabhoomi issue as well,” he said.
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On Sunday, newly-inducted junior Cabinet Minister Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti said a Ram temple would be constructed at Ayodhya with the consensus of all sections of society. Speaking during her visit to her constituency in Fatehpur, she added that it was the duty of all countrymen.
A senior Minister in the Akhilesh Yadav Cabinet, though, has accused the Sangh Parivar of seeking to revive an “almost dead” issue: “After martyrdom of Babri mosque… there is a proper temple. Now what do they want to construct?”