Now, Hindutva agenda will be on slow burner till 2024 election
The Akhil Bhartiya Akhara Parishad (ABAP), the apex body of saints and seers, has said it will now want to focus on “liberating” Kashi and Mathura. ABAP president Mahant Narendra Giri told reporters: “It is a matter of solace and pride that the bhumi pujan for the construction of a grand Ram temple in Ayodhya has been done after a prolonged battle. We now demand that the flag of ‘Sanatan Dharma’ be hoisted in Kashi and Mathura also, for which the Akhara Parishad would do everything possible, remaining within the limits of the Constitution.”
He said that the seers would soon hold a meeting to discuss plans for starting a movement for Kashi and Mathura and ‘liberating’ the two key places of importance for the Hindus.Just days back, the Krishna Janmabhoomi Trust with 80 seers from 14 states has been set up in Mathura to ‘liberate’ the Krishna Janambhoomi.
The digging of the foundation for Ram temple in Ayodhya will begin next week. In about three years the temple domes will touch the skies. It would be naïve to think that once the temple construction is finally over it will pacify Hindus against seeking obliteration of symbols of Mughal invasion, particularly those in Kashi and Mathura. A popular slogan after Babri mosque’s demolition was, “Ayodhya toh jhanki hai, Kashi, Mathura baaki hai (Ayodhya is only a trailer, Kashi and Mathura are still there.
According to the sources, the chief priest, who had performed the rituals for the Ram Temple ‘bhoomi pujan’ in Ayodhya, wanted to ask Prime Minister Narendra Modi to ‘liberate’ Kashi and Mathura but was stopped by the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Trust, which was overseeing Temple construction work. The chief priest Gangadhar Pathak said that he wanted the prime minister to promise ‘liberation’ of the twin temples as ‘dakshina’
The Vishwa Hindu Parishad, which spearheaded the Ram Janmbhoomi movement and often raised the demand for the “liberation” of Kashi and Mathura shrines which coexist alongside mosques, softened its stance after the Supreme Court’s Ayodhya verdict. “We are not looking at any other agenda,” a senior functionary of the outfit said.
Standing in the way of a Ram temple-like movement for the liberation of Kashi and Mathura shrines is the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act of 1991. According to this Act, the nature of all religious places will continue to be as it was in 1947. The Babri Masjid was kept out of the Act’s ambit. In December last year, soon after the SC verdict, BJP’s Rajya Sabha MP wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking a direction to the Law Ministry to amend the 1991 Act, specifically section 4, which he said was “offensive and ultra vires” of his “fundamental rights” to freedom of worship. He also asked the Centre to acquire land for “renovation” of Kashi and Mathura shrines.
In June this year, a Hindu outfit Vishwa Bhadra Pujari Purohit filed a PIL before the Supreme Court arguing that the “impugned Act has barred the right and remedy against encroachment made on the religious property of Hindus exercising might of power by followers of another faith”. More than the court it is within the government’s jurisdiction to amend the legislation. Given its brute majority, the BJP-led government can, if it so desires, amend the Act.
Uniform Civil Code, removal of “secularism” from the Constitution’s Preamble and renaming of the country as Bharat— are still pending. A petition was filed in SC in July seeking deletion of words “socialist” and “secular” from the Preamble. As an MP Yogi Adityanath had moved a Bill to rename India. A PIL seeking an amendment to Article 1 which deals with the name is pending before SC. BJP and RSS are in no hurry. Kashi, Mathura, and all other issues will remain on the slow burner until an opportune moment between now and the next election in 2024.
On the other hand ,the process of brainstorming has started in the Muslim community. Muslims, who had once again started looking at the Congress with some expectations, were shocked by the statement of several party leaders, including Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, congratulating people for the Ram Mandir and calling its bhoomi pujan a historic event. The party’s former president Rahul Gandhi had been able to gain some popularity among the Muslim youth in recent times by being a rare leader who stood up to the RSS’ might and called it and BJP out on their communal, divisive agenda. But the statements made by Congress leaders on 5 August have scarred that image.
AIMIM president Senior owaisi looks agressive on this issue and sees a saffron claw in the Congress hand. On the other hand, IUML took a soft stand against Priyanka Gandhi’s statement, passed a two line resolution without much strong words. There is nothing significant in the IUML resolution.This (Priyanka’s statement) is not going to trigger any political realignment in Kerala. IUML got worried about its voters’ sentiment after seeing the Hindutva stance of Congress in northern states. The IUML move to pass the resolution can be seen only as one to take its Muslim voters into confidence.Given the sensitive equation in state politics between the Congress and IUML, the two leading partners in the United Democratic Front (UDF), the League took a cautious line and did not make any further comments to strain the relationship.
As usual, All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen chief Asaduddin Owaisi criticised the Congress and said that the party was equally responsible for the demolition of the 16th-century Babri Mosque, He criticised other “secular parties” and claimed they had been completely exposed, as the foundation ceremony of a Ram temple took place in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh, earlier in this week.
