Ram temple not electoral issue, says BJP

Mumbai: BJP spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain Tuesday said that the construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya was not an electoral issue for his party but a “matter of faith”.

Last week, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat demanded a law to enable construction of the Ram temple, saying it was necessary for the “self-esteem” (of the people in general) and to usher an “atmosphere of goodwill and oneness”.

Mr Hussain Tuesday said that the BJP’s official stand was that the Ram temple issue was pending before the Supreme Court. In a democracy, various dem-ands were made and the government heard each one of them. All Indians wanted the temple to be constructed. It was not an electoral issue, but a matter of faith for the BJP, he said while participating in a debate on whether the Modi government would accept Mr Bhagwat’s demand for a law to construct the Ram temple.

In his customary Dussehra address last Thursday in Nagpur, Mr Bhagwat said that politics was delaying the construction of the Ram Mandir and that it was in “nobody’s interest to test the patience of society without any reason”. The next hearing of the Ayodhya case is scheduled on October 29.

During the debate, AI-MIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi claimed that the Ram temple issue was a ploy to “deflect attention” from rising prices of petrol, the sliding rupee, mob lynching and sexual harassment charges against former Union minister M.J. Akbar. “If the RSS is a socio-cultural organisation, how can it put pressure on the government to bring a law for the construction of the Ram temple?” he questioned.