BJP revives call for building Ram temple at Ayodhya

LUCKNOW: The BJP has revived the call for building a Ram temple at Ayodhya, as it looks to win maximum seats in the key state of Uttar Pradesh in the approaching general elections by pushing the Hindutva agenda.

Amit Shah, BJP general secretary in charge of UP, visited the disputed site in Ayodhya on Saturday and said he prayed that a grand temple was soon built at the place.

Shah, a confidant of Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi, who also heads the BJP campaign committee, was handpicked by Modi to revive the BJP in the state. This was Shah’s first visit to the city after his appointment.

He added that he had also prayed for establishing good governance in the country and free the nation from Congress rule. The construction of a temple at the disputed site in Ayodhya was once the mainstay of BJP’s political agenda, but was put on the backburner after the party formed a coalition of parties called National Democratic Alliance.

Shah, an accused in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case, made clear that the party would pursue a strong Hindutva line in the Lok Sabha poll campaign. The BJP hopes that the Hindutva agenda would help galvanise cadres and appeal to a broad section of voters. The party has been languishing in UP, where it could only win 10 out of the 80 seats in the 2009 Lok Sabha polls.

Its chances to form the next government at the Centre would depend on UP. State Congress leader Pramod Tiwari said the true communal face of the BJP has been exposed. He said the people of UP will reject the BJP and the state government should stop Shah from visiting the state to prevent communal unrest. In Nagpur, BJP president Rajnath Singh said: “I don’t know what he (Amit Shah) has said. But if he had said so, then what’s wrong in it ?”