Ram Temple ‘non-issue’, PM gives Faizabad, Ayodhya a ‘miss’

Vibha Sharma
Tribune News Service
Faizabad/Ayodhya, February 25

The place virtually forms the centre of the saffron politics which led the BJP to 282 Lok Sabha seats from a mere two in 1984.
Building of a “grand” Ram Temple at Ayodhya continues to be part of its discourse but Prime Minister Narendra Modi giving Faizabad/Ayodhya a “miss” in spite of his otherwise extensive election coverage in Uttar Pradesh appears telling.

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Till about two days before electioneering ends here on Saturday, expectations were rife that he would make a stopover in Faizabad district before the fifth phase goes to the polls on Monday.
While BJP strategists point to his rallies in close-by areas like Basti, Gonda, Bahraich and Barabanki, many here do not share the viewpoint. 
Incidentally, Faizabad, the old capital of Awadh, is the Lok Sabha constituency from where Lallu Singh is the BJP MP. The district has five Assembly seats--Rudauli, Milkipur, Ayodhya, Gosainganj and Bikapur. 

Embroiled for decades in the bitter Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid controversy, Ayodhya is located barely seven kilometres from Faizabad.
For many in Ayodhya, and that includes supporters of the BJP, the Ram Temple as a political issue lost its steam long back. The youth have little or no traction for it.
Crying for a better deal, people of the dismally neglected Ayodhya would rather prefer development and infrastructure to be made as election issues. This is the reason why the PM left it to Home Minister Rajnath Singh to make usual noises about the politically-flogged-before-the-election-time issue that the “grand Ram Temple at Ayodhya” has now become.
The BJP leadership discovered better, more effective ways to achieve the purpose. The Prime Minister’s statements like “kabristan-shamshan and power situation vis-a-vis Diwali and Eid” found better connect with non-upper castes of the majority community.
The indifference, the nonchalance over when or whether such a temple would be built is all pervasive in Ayodhya.
“When Narendra Modi became the PM, there was a hope that construction (of the temple) will soon start,” says Acharya Satyendra Dass, the head priest of the Ram Janmabhoomi Temple. 
Others like Mahant Raghuvar Sharan and Mahant Hari Dayal Shastri point out the “rise in stature of leaders like LK Advani, Uma Bharti and Vinay Katiyar”.

“Had the PM wanted, he could have easily resolved the issue,” says a government official, who is part of the makeshift temple administration.
BJP leaders say top leaders have visited Faizabad and reiterated the party’s commitment to build the temple. “BJP chief Amit Shah has spoken at Rudauli. Rajnath Singh is the number two in the government. He has been here and what he says is equally important. And what if the Prime Minister had come here and not spoken about Ram Temple, would it not have made bigger news than him skipping Ayodhya?” they say.

VHP leader Sharad Sharma says the Ram temple remains an issue related to faith. However, issues related to development are also equally important.
As per Mahant Ram Das of the famous Nirmohi Akhada, the PM gave Ayodhya a miss perhaps because he did not want to get into the mandir-masjid dispute. “The PM does not want to be part of the dispute, he wants to resolve it,” he says.
The fact is that caught in a time warp for far too long, people of the temple town located on the banks of the Saryu have also moved on. They seem to have learnt to live with “Ram lalla” in a tarpaulin tent in the heavily guarded disputed site.
Rakesh Saini, a vendor of flower garlands outside Hanumangarhi--the temple as important to the Ram Janmabhoomi as Hanuman was to Lord Rama--points to lack of basic infrastructure, potholed roads, stinking ghats, the “missing” development in the town. “If the BJP comes to power, the PM will be in a much better position to give us all that,” he says.
Faizabad, which has better facilities, has made gains at the cost of Ayodhya because of their lack here, he adds.

Saini says, “But for now, Ayodhya is just a pawn in the UP politics, dusted and aired before the election time.”

And the Prime Minister seems to be finding much better response with issues like demonetisation as demonstrated by Maharashtra two days back.