BJP rakes Ram Janmabhoomi issue; divisive politics, cries Congress

The stage for the upcoming elections in some state and the 2014 general elections — at least part of it — was set on Saturday as the Congress lambasted the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for reviving the Ram Janmabhoomi campaign, asserting that BJP’s divisive agenda was now out in the open for all to see and evaluate.

The context was the visit of Amit Shah, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi’s aide and BJP’s Uttar Pradesh incharge, to Ayodhya earlier in the day, and his announcement that a grand temple of Lord Ram will soon be built in Ayodhya.

Shah, who visited the Ram temple at the disputed site, said he had come to offer his prayers to Lord Ram. “It is a centre of faith for Hindus. I have prayed that there should be good governance in the country and it should be freed of the Congress. I have also prayed that we should all together build a grand temple for Lord Ram here, as soon as possible,” he said.

The Samajwadi Party (SP) was a little slow to react but the Congress wasted no time in saying ‘we told you so’.

Fastest on the draw was External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid, who said BJP had raised this issue several times and that it couldn’t mislead the nation any more.

“They have raised this many a time. They formed the government after that. Why didn’t they do it when their government was at the Centre? And, the matter is before the Supreme Court. One can move ahead only after a Supreme Court order,” said Khurshid, adding: “People have become clever now and they won’t be misled.”

Congress General-Secretary Madhusudan Mistri has been warning reporters at party briefings that BJP has and would continue to have a divisive agenda. Finance Minister P Chidambaram had also alluded to the communal leanings of Narendra Modi, virtually saying it was a matter of time: BJP’s liberal, good governance façade slipped and its real agenda revealed.

Behind the war of statements could be a strategy: BJP knows if it can divide the minorities between the dominant Samajwadi Party and the Congress in UP, it could benefit from the resultant polarisation.

Amit Shah’s statement could have been the first step in that direction. By referring to good governance and the Ram temple in the same breath, Shah indicated the political argument BJP was going to adopt in UP: Promise good governance with a positive bias towards the majority to polarise the communities, but also divide the minorities between the Congress and SP.

L K Advani’s supporters have been arguing that this might neutralise the pan-Indian issues of high prices, mismanagement of the economy and corruption, which are more potent issues than whether the Ram temple should or should not be built.