...BJP to wait till enough numbers in RS

Vibha Sharma

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, March 22

Despite Yogi Adityanath in command in Uttar Pradesh, the BJP believes that the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid dispute can be solved only by April 2018 when it has the requisite numbers in the Rajya Sabha to pass a law for constructing Ram Temple at Ayodhya.

With Muslim organisations almost rejecting the Supreme Court suggestion for an out-of-court settlement, arguing that such attempts in the past had proved futile, senior BJP leader Subramanian Swamy accused Muslim bodies of “creating hindrances” in resolving the dispute and set April 2018 as the “outer limit”. He did not elaborate what it meant.

The BJP is expected to muster a majority in the Rajya Sabha by April 2018, making it possible to pass a law to build the temple. Right-wing organisations, including the VHP, have been pitching for such a law.

Unlike the general opinion that Adityanath has the option of using the ordinance route to start building Ram Temple, BJP sources claim this is the “most unlikely path in such a sensitive religious matter.”

Apart from the mechanism suggested by the apex court, the government, they say, will wait till the time it achieves a majority in the Rajya Sabha, which also fits the party’s plans for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

A similar assertion was made by Rajnath Singh in 2015. He had then pointed out to the lack of numbers in RS coming in the way of enacting a law for constructing Ram Temple.