Ayodhya verdict: BJP to fulfill 2 of its core promises

With the Supreme Court deciding in favour of the Hindu side in the vexed Ayohdya dispute, the ruling BJP’s second core promise of the construction of Ram Temple at the deity’s birthplace, as believed by millions of Hindus, is close to being fulfilled.

In Modi 2:0 government, which took oath less than six months ago, this will be the second core issue of the BJP, to see fruition after the central government took away the special status of Jammu and Kashmir on August 5, by revoking provisions of Article 370 from Jammu and Kashmir.

Ram Temple at Ayodhya, Abrogation of Article 370 and implementation of Uniform Civil Code (UCC) were three core issues of the BJP, which it repeatedly mentioned in its Lok Sabha poll manifestos.

These three issues had to be kept out of the Common Minimum Programme, when BJP’s first Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee ran a hydra-headed coalition between March 1998 and May 2004.

As the BJP builds upon its Hindutva narrative, the Congress is once again in a bind.

The Congress party, which had during the Prime Ministership of Rajiv Gandhi, overturned through a Parliamentary legislation the Shahbano verdict of the Apex Court that prescribed alimony for a talaq victim, was quick to welcome the Supreme Court order on Ayodhya, hoping this would bring an end to the temple politics of the saffron party.

Earlier too the Congress had no option but to welcome the Modi government's decision on the abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir and it has merely faulted the government on the process of taking this decision without taking the people into confidence.

As the Sangh Parivar has greeted the Ayodhya verdict in chorus, many wonder what is next, though both the VHP and RSS have on Saturday refrained from raking up the issues of Kashi Vishwanath temple in Varanasi and Krishna Janmbhoomi in Mathura, both of whom are flanked by a mosque, against which Hindutva groups have been making voices.

The decision on Ayodhya has come at a time when two states—Jharkhand and Delhi—are going to polls within a span of three months and there is talk of an ebb in the BJP wave, especially after the results of Haryana and Maharashtra polls in which the saffron party could not repeat its last Assembly poll performance.

When VHP international president Vishnu Sadashiv Kokje on Saturday said that the Ram temple would be constructed fully by 2024, the significance of its timing was not lost, as the next general election falls in that year.