Religions play a crucial role in grabbing mandate and no political parties has left any stone unturned from using the same as a political tool, however, Ram Mandir issue tops the lists of all the other tools that has been used by politicians for political gain by now. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) – since its inception never shied away from using the same, moreover, the Ram Mandir issue became an international issue all because of BJP’s definition of nationalism. It is observed by many that the BJP has used the issue for its political mileage and has created hate between Hindus and Muslims.
The construction of Ram Mandir (the hen which led golden egg) will finally be starting if the Congress comes to power in 2019, a source from the party said on the condition of anonymity. The Congress since its inception has always maintained itself to be a secular political party. However, after the 2014 Lok Sabha election and Narendra Modi’s historic win, the Congress too has started showing its Hindutva angle sharply so that it could grab votes.
Muslim minority and Dalits play a vital role in the election as they have almost 30-35 per cent of the total votes. In the last elections the BJP used the Dalit vote bank on the basis of Hindutva agenda that all Hindus are same no matter which castes they belong to, however, the result was opposites, as thousand cases regarding the lynching and murders of Dalits came to limelight under the BJP government. Moreover, if we look at the campaigning of the Congress of the last some years, it quite evident that the party president Rahul Gandhi has been meeting with the Muslim and Dalit communities and favouring them as much as he can. Recently during his political campaigning Rahul Gandhi said that if his party comes to power then he will make sure that the voters would feel great about their voting decision.
“Since the emotion of crores of Hindus is attached with the Ram Mandir, the party has decided to start the construction of the Ram Mandir if it comes to power. Along with this the party will also maintain the sentiments of crores of Muslims as well by keeping the Babri Masjid at its place. Hopefully, we will be solving the decades-long religious issue that has created a communal line between these two religions and will continue the theory of ‘unity in diversity’ that the BJP has broken after coming to power,” the leader said.
Babri Masjid was built in 1528 by Mir Baqi, commander of Mughal emperor Babur and Hindus claimed the Masjid was built after demolishing a temple. British erect fences to separate Hindu and Muslim areas of worship in 1859. However, Hindus and Muslims filed title suits in the 1949 claiming the land; the government takes over the disputed site. The Supreme Court in 1994 orders status quo on all the cases till the title suit is settled. However, Shiv Sainik, Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) members and BJP supporters demolished the Babri Masjid in 1992 that caused a communal riot between Hindus and Muslims and nearly 2000 people were died. Since then the conflicts regarding the disputed land has been rounding the nation and the parties that follow the hard-core Hindutva ideology been getting mandate by using the issue.
The Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid case is cantered on a controversial piece of land in the Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh where Lord Ram (as believed by Hindus) was born. The Ayodhya case is a political and religious debate in India that has been at the centre of communal and polarisation politics since decades.
In a recent development the Supreme Court on March 8 ordered Ayodhya’s Ram Mandir dispute case for mediation. A three member panel has been finalized for the mediation which will be headed by former Supreme Court judge FM Kalifullah, and the other two mediators include Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and Shriram Panchu. However, the name of Sri Sri Ravi Shankar in mediators’ list created furor in the country. A group supported the decision of SC, another group denounced the court’s decision wrong claiming that Sri Sri is a hard-core Hindu, who during 2014 elections openly supported Modi and the BJP, and he somewhere will be partial regarding the mediation, however, some even said that Sri Sri is doing all this for the sake of getting Nobel peace prize, whereas the realities differ from group to group. AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi said the court could have chosen an objective and a rational person who would have been better than Sri Sri.
However, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has declared the upcoming Lok Sabha elections schedule and months is left now to see if the Congress is going to construct the Mandir after it comes to the power or the issue will remain in the same way same as the BJP forgot it after coming to the power in 2014.
