Modi’s Ram temple card

IN one fell swoop, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has managed to placate the restive RSS on the Ram temple and push the emotive issue back to the centre stage months before the Lok Sabha elections. Amid the growing clamour from Hindutva organisations for an ordinance regarding early construction of the ‘mandir’, Modi said in a televised interview that his government was ready to make all efforts in this direction, but only after the completion of the judicial process. The PM made it clear that he acknowledged the supremacy of the Supreme Court, which is scheduled to hear the case on January 4, but suggested in the same breath that his ‘sarkar’ might have the last word on the matter.

In its manifesto for the 2014 parliamentary elections, the saffron party had reiterated ‘its stand to explore all possibilities within the framework of the Constitution to facilitate the construction’ of the temple. Five years later, the BJP finds itself under intense pressure to walk the talk, especially with the Shiv Sena — the second biggest constituent of the ruling NDA — breathing down its neck. Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray had even threatened to ‘thrash’ the senior ally if it came up with more ‘jumlas’ in the name of Hindu gods.

The Congress has been quick to point out that there would practically be no room for an ordinance once the apex court declares its verdict, which should ideally be accepted by all. The ground reality is that the BJP, stung by electoral reversals in three key states of the Hindi belt, desperately needs a tried-and-tested poll plank to win over voters. Its failure to offer any out-of-the-box solution to bail out the beleaguered farmers, coupled with the adverse impact of demonetisation and GST on the electorate, has left the party with little to gloat over. Weighed down by the burden of unfulfilled promises, including the elusive ‘achche din’, the BJP again seems to be putting all its eggs in the religious basket. However, Team Modi-Shah will need much more than divine intervention to turn the tide.