Ayodhya: Where the Mandir-Masjid debate is still a poll issue

‘We swear on Lord Ram, a temple will be built at the same site’, was the impassioned slogan of the BJP’s Ramjanmabhoomi movement in the early 1990s. A quarter century later, the same promise features in the party’s manifesto for Uttar Pradesh but the faithful in the temple town of Ayodhya are far less hopeful.

Lakshman Das is a priest working at a temple near the site of Babri Masjid, which was demolished by kar sevaks in 1992. The octogenarian hopes that a Ram temple can be constructed in the site, but he believes that the BJP is not capable of doing it.

“They remember about the temple whenever election is around,” Das said when asked about BJP President Amit Shah’s statement on the matter a week ago. “Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not get time to visit the Janmabhumi so far. For them, this is just a political issue,” he added.

Das’ sentiments is not an individual’s response in that area. Sangit Kumar Mishra and TK Mishra are BJP supporters in the area. They too feel that it would have been better had Modi “prayed” at the demolition site.

Keshav Ram Mishra, a manager at the Sitaram Anna Kshetra Samiti, a trust that offers food for all pilgrims to the site, was confident that Modi will visit the area when time comes. “Only the BJP government can construct a temple here. We are just waiting for the court order. If the BJP wins Uttar Pradesh elections and we get a Chief Minister like Kalyan Singh (who was Chief Minister when Babri Masjid was demolished) the temple will be built in no time,” Mishra said. An issue that worries the RSS-VHP volunteers at Karsevak Puram, the head office of Ram Janam Bhumi Nyas (Trust), is the slow progress in the work. A top functionary of the Trust says credibility crisis has hit the construction of the temple. “It has been almost 25 years. People are asking why we have not built the temple yet,” the person, who wished not to be quoted, said.

Another top functionary, Triloki Nath Pandey, who represented the idol of Ram in court, said it was the Akhilesh Yadav government that put obstacles in the construction. “Our workshop was busy with activities till one year ago. Recently, Yadav government’s Sales Tax department denied permission to us to bring sandstones from other States to our workshop,” Pandey said.

Pandey added that the construction materials for the ground floor are with the Trust at present. “Carving of the stones for the ground floor is over. There are two more floors. We need more stone. Fund is not at all an issue, but only a change in government will help us to get more stones here,” Pandey said.

Pandey added that after the Allahabad High Court verdict in October, 2010, the donations received at the workshop saw a ten-fold increase. “We used to get ₹20,000 to ₹30,000 a month before the High Court verdict. Now it goes to ₹2- 3lakh a month,” Pandey, who also oversees the construction, said.

Pandey hopes that Supreme Court’s order will be in favour of the Trust. .

SP and BSP are giving tough fight to the BJP in the area. “People want a change from this debate. They are not bothered about the Mandir-Masjid debate. BJP uses this issue to polarise voters whenever there is an election. But this time, they will not succeed,” claims BSP candidate in Ayodhya, Bazmi Siddiqui.

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