After BJP's emphatic win in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand in the just-held assembly polls, the RSS appears to be pushing for the long-pending complex Hindutva agenda. RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat has reiterated that people of the country want a temple at the birth place of Lord Ram but attacked minority leadership for creating hurdles on the Ayodhya issue.
Bhagwat, speaking at Dharma Sanskriti Raksha Samiti at Deoghar in Jharkhand on Tuesday, also stressed that Muslims and Christains are not opposed to the construction of Ram temple at Ayodhya even as the long pending dispute remains before the Supreme Court which had recently refused to expidite its hearing.
"The Muslims and Christains are not opposed to temple construction. But people who are doing politics at their behest or who indulge in hooliganism and hardliners among them get upset," Bhagwat reportedly said at the congregation of Hindus on religious conversion in Jharkhand. The RSS chief was of the view that to move together is the characterstic of Hindustan.
The RSS chief's renewed call for construction of the temple -- his second public statement in favour of it in more than a year -- comes close to his voicing support on another controversial Hindutva agenda. On Sunday, Bhagwat had demanded a national law banning cow slaughter but had warned vigilante groups against taking law in their own hands in the name of protecting the bovine animal as it "defames" the cause.
The BJP too had brought the Ram temple issue firmly on its manifesto in the UP elections. Releasing its manifesto, BJP chief Amit Shah had said that the party was "firm" on the Ram temple issue and that "efforts will be made to ensure that Ram temple is constructed under the constitutional provisions".
UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath had advocated that his government would mediate, if needed, to resolve the Ayodhya issue after the Supeme Court had suggested to look for an out of court solution through mediation among stakeholders.
Deccan Herald News Service
Published 12 April 2017, 07:10 IST