BJP revives Ayodhya agenda

Bid to woo voters back by raising temple issue

With less than a year to go for the next Lok Sabha elections, the vexed Ram Temple issue made a comeback on the BJP's agenda.

Uttar Pradesh BJP in-charge and Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi's protégé Amit Shah on Saturday launched his statewide visit to meet party leaders and workers and discuss the election strategy with a visit to the makeshift Ram Temple at Ayodhya and declaring his party's commitment to the issue.

“Ram Temple is a centre of faith for millions of hindus across the world....I paid obeisance here and prayed for the construction of a gran Ram temple at this place at the earliest,” Shah told reporters after having darshan of the idols of Ram Lala.
He said that he also prayed for `good governance' in the country and a “congress-free” India.

State BJP chief Luxmi Kant Bajpai, who accompanied Shah, said that his party workers and leaders never forget Lord Rama even for a moment.

“We chant Rama's name round the clock'', Bajpai said.

Shah later chaired a meeting of the leaders of the “Avadh” region of the party at Karsevakpuram in Ayodhya where also the temple issue was raised prominently.
Sources said that Shah re-assured the leaders that BJP had not abandoned the Ram temple issue. He also sought to reach out to the saint community stating that the party would need their blessings for success in the state.

BJP currently has only one Lok Sabha seat out of the 16 seats in the Avadh region that comprises 14 districts. The party is desperate to make inroads into the region and feels that the temple issue could come handy for that.

It is with this objective in mind the meeting was organized at Ayodhya, say the saffron leaders.

“The meeting is being held at Ayodhya after a long gap...it will certainly send across a message not only to our cadre but also to our supporters that the party is fully committed to the construction of a grand Ram Temple at Ayodhya'', said a senior state BJP leader here.

Incidentally the BJP had lost the Ayodhya assembly seat to the Samajwadi Party (SP) in the last year's polls shocking the saffron leaders. A section of the BJP feels that the meeting could once again revive the movement, at least in Ayodhya and the nearby districts.

UP sends 80 MPs to the Lok Sabha and would be crucial for Modi if were to nurture a prime ministerial ambition.

BJP could win only nine seats in the 2009 Lok Sabha polls while in the last year's assembly elections its tally was merely 47.