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VHP will 'dump' BJP if it 'ditches' Ayodhya

The Vishwa Hindu Parishad, which is going ahead with its plans of building a Ram temple in Ayodhya, is upset with the Bharatiya Janata Party's oft-repeated statements that 'survival' is more important than the 'mandir'.

Adding to their irritation is the fact that even leaders like BJP president-elect Kushabhau Thakre, considered a staunch Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh activist, have jumped on the 'survival' bandwagon. ''The success of the BJP-led coalition government is more important than contentious issues like Ayodhya,'' he said yesterday.

This may have come as a rude to shock to the RSS, as it had expected the septuagenarian to take a harder stand the Ayodhya case. Apparently, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Kalyan Singh was so pepped up by Thakre's election that he virtually reverted, albeit in a guarded manner, to his earlier hardline stance that a Ram temple would be built at Ayodhya.

The chief minister's assertion drew sharp reactions from the BJP's allies even as several VHP leaders and religious heads openly expressed their ire against what they termed the BJP's 'soft peddling' on the issue that had topped the agenda of the Sangh Parivar (the RSS and affiliates including the BJP and the VHP) for over a decade.

The Sangh Parivar's stand was reiterated at a recent VHP-sponsored assembly of sadhus (Hindu ascetics), held during the Kumbh Mela at Hardwar in western Uttar Pradesh.

Expressing concern at the BJP's climbdown, VHP supremo Ashok Singhal made it loud and clear that the Ayodhya temple cannot be taken off the agenda under any circumstances.

He, however, displayed unusual caution when he declared, "But we are not fixing any deadline for the construction of the temple."

Singhal insisted that the BJP is committed to building the temple and added that, had the party achieved an absolute (two-thirds) majority in Parliament, it would have constructed the temple through a parliamentary act. He was confident that the BJP's allies would eventually come around to the BJP's line of thinking. "Then our long-cherished dream of a magnificent Ram temple in Ayodhya will come true," he proclaimed.

"The Ayodhya temple issue was taken off the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government's national agenda. Therefore, the BJP members must restrain themselves from making irresponsible statements in this regard, especially when their own top leaders like Vajpayee and (Home Minister) L K Advani have categorically ruled out its inclusion," he said.

However, the mahant (chief priest) of Ayodhya's oldest temple Hanumangarh called for the early construction of the temple. A belligerent Ram Chandra Paramhans told Rediff On The Net over telephone, "We are not dependent on the BJP for the temple's construction."

Paramhans has been closely associated with the Ram temple movement right from the beginning when idols of infant Ram were placed in the sanctum sanctorum of the Babri mosque in 1949. The 16^th century mosque was destroyed in December 1992.

"We will start the temple construction whenever we deem fit. Whether the BJP government brings in a law or not, the temple will become a reality," he declared.

Nevertheless, political observers doubt if the construction will occur. "With the realisation having dawned on the BJP that no further political dividend will accrue from the Ayodhya issue, no pragmatic leader will go ahead with the temple construction," said a political analyst. "They know that discretion is the better part of valour."

Meanwhile, Bajrang Dal national convener Surinder Kumar Jain has reiterated that the VHP and his organisation are committed to the construction of the Ram temple at Ayodhya and the 'liberation of the temples of Kashi and Mathura'.

Addressing the media in Rohtak, Haryana, Jain welcomed the reported statement of Vajpayee at Lucknow recently that the Ram temple would be constructed at Ayodhya after a dialogue with all the parties concerned. He said the VHP and the Bajrang Dal had supported the BJP in the last general elections only because it had promised scrapping of Article 370 of the Constitution and the construction of the Ram temple at Ayodhya.

He warned that the two organisations would not hesitate in opposing the BJP if it diluted its stand on these issues.

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