New Delhi: With the Lok Sabha elections nearly five months away, mega-preparations are being planned for the Ram Mandir inauguration in Ayodhya on January 22 next year. Not only a year-long series of events are being planned following the inauguration, the BJP has also revamped its social media campaign with an illustration of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president J.P. Nadda against the backdrop of the grand temple. The Ram Mandir is expected to be one of the major campaign planks of the BJP in 2024, for which the Opposition camp is relying on its numerical strength and its demand for “Jitni Abadi Utna Haq”.
The Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra, the trust that is overseeing the construction in Ayodhya, has been regularly giving updates from the construction site through the social media and statements. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the “star campaigner” of the BJP, will be participating in the consecration of the temple along with the saints and seers, who have been invited by the trust. The construction of the Ram Mandir had been one of the core poll promises of the BJP since long and the party and the RSS and its affiliates have been preparing for the consecration ceremony in a big way. The RSS and other allied organisations have been reaching out to people across the country with invitations.
The VHP, one of the Sangh affiliates and the flag-bearer of the Ram Janmabhoomi movement, has engaged its units even outside the country, urging Hindus to participate in the event by watching the “pran pratishtha” ceremony. The BJP had often accused the Congress of delaying the resolution of the Ram Mandir issue, which had been pending in the courts until the Supreme Court gave its judgment in 2019.
Though the Lok Sabha polls are still some months away, the BJP leaders have been highlighting the issue during the campaign rallies of the ongoing Assembly polls in five states. Union home minister Amit Shah raised the issue recently during a campaign rally in Telangana, where he announced that the BJP will ensure free visits to the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya for all residents of Telangana if the saffron party was voted to power in the coming Assembly elections. The senior BJP leader also alleged that the Congress hindered and delayed the construction of the Ram temple for the last 70 years.
