RAM TEMPLE SHOULD NEVER BE AN ELECTORAL ISSUE BUT!

A media report quoting the original litigants in Ayodhya Ram Temple issue asked if the Ram Temple was the biggest issue in India.

Certainly it is not. And it should never be.

A God, be of any religion, never allows violence in His name. And so, the multitudes of us, who indulge in violent activities in His name, are not his followers but traders of His name for our own benefits; for our own selfish agendas. Politicians acquire the highest place in this category of traders, the mercenaries of Faith. And millions of us act as their stooges, the idiots!

Fortunately, it has not been an issue for over a decade now.

Unfortunately, in the prevailing political circumstances of the country when moral corruption has shadowed the ethical politics completely, it can emerge as ‘the principal issue’ or ‘one of the principal issues’ anytime.

The cocktail of religion and politics in the run up to the upcoming ‘big’ assembly elections and the parliamentary polls - the rush to appease the minorities to fool them again to secure their votes and the emergence of Narendra Modi as the most popular national leader and the National Democratic Alliance (NDA)’s prime-ministerial candidate – has started creating the bitter taste.

The ‘polarisation war’ has begun. The ‘politics of polarisation’ is going to make the cocktail of ‘religion and politics’ taste even more pungent in the days to come.

Though, seeking a wider ‘perceptive’ acceptability, even beyond India, the BJP is not going to play the religious card openly in the elections, and even Narendra Modi is not going to be verbose about exploiting the religious sentiments, but in a heightened religious atmosphere with overemphasis on minority appeasement, a mere presence of Narendra Modi is enough to polarise the Hindu votes, given it gets the ‘push’ to stir the majority sentiments. And certainly, the Ram Temple could be an issue to begin the process to give the ‘push’.

And the rest of the job of carrying out acts for the ‘push’, like ‘84 Kosi Yatra’ or ‘rallies and protests for the Ram Temple’ or ‘Kashi’ or ‘Mathura’ or ‘anti-Hindu violence in J&K’, can be done by Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) or Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP)  or some other Hindu outfits.

Construction of Ram Temple or any such religious demand is just a tool to push the electoral politics along the religious lines and may not have significant impact but when aligned with the polarising persona of Narendra Modi, may well serve the purpose of aligning and uniting the divided Hindu votes.

Like always, it will not lead to the work leading to the construction of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya, but Narendra Modi’s emergence in national politics and his emphasis on UP makes it different this time.

The BJP (Bhartiya Janta Party) and the NDA strategists think so. And Narendra Modi thinks so. And by the political mood of the nation, it seems logical, if looked at in the context of a sociopolitical analysis.

So, he is going to address four rallies in UP in October and there are clear reports that he will be contesting the Lok Sabha polls from Uttar Pradesh as well. And for sure, there would be many more ‘religiously aligned’ events lined up as the elections near.

Winning UP or scoring a significantly enhanced performance in India’s most populous state with maximum number of parliamentary seats is crucial for the BJP. And so the BJP and the NDA’s strategists would do all to rake-up the issue of construction of Ram Temple in Ayodhya, once again, like they have been doing in the past, before every election, to align the Hindu sentiments, on religious lines, against the caste and class divide.

And if that happens, that would be unfortunate, for us, for the nation, once again.

But, equally detestable is the minority and the caste appeasement politics.

What is the way out then?

©/IPR: Santosh Chaubey - http://severallyalone.blogspot.com/