Has the electoral reverse suffered by the BJP in the Delhi assembly polls led to the Hindu right-wing flexing its muscles? The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) is set to expand its campaign to press for the construction of a Ram temple at the disputed site in Ayodhya to cover 1.5 lakh villages in the country.
Has the electoral reverse suffered by the BJP in the Delhi assembly polls led to the Hindu right-wing flexing its muscles? The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) is set to expand its campaign to press for the construction of a Ram temple at the disputed site in Ayodhya to cover 1.5 lakh villages in the country.
The week-long 'Ram Utsav', which will be held from March 21 to 30, will see a massive show of strength, with religious discourses, ceremonies and processions being held. In July and August, massive tree plantation campaigns will be held in these villages and appeals will be made for eye and body donation.
"We initially planned to hold the campaign in 1 lakh villages. But considering the huge response, we have decided to expand it to 1.5 lakh villages... where this jagran (awareness) will be held," VHP All India secretary prof Vyankatesh Abdeo told dna. VHP leaders like Dr Pravin Togadiya and Champat Rai will also tour the country during the Utsav and the organisation will distribute portraits of Lord Rama in these villages. The campaign will also cover around 9,000 villages in Maharashtra apart from urban centres.
"This jagran will prepare the atmosphere for the Ram Janmabhoomi movement. This will automatically create pressure on the government to take steps (for the construction of the Ram temple) as it will forge public opinion," said Abdeo. He added that the ongoing Hindu sammelans, being held by the VHP as part of the organisation's golden jubilee celebrations, had created similar pressure regarding ghar vapasi (re-conversion of Christians and Muslims to Hinduism) and the Ram temple.
Mir Baqi, a general of Mughal emperor Babar is said to have destroyed a temple of Lord Rama in 1528 to construct the Babri Masjid. After the BJP brought the temple issue into the mainstream political discourse in the 1980s, the mosque was felled by kar sewaks from the Sangh Parivar and other radical Hindu right-wing groups on December 6, 1992, which led to large-scale rioting across the country, including Mumbai.
The VHP is seeking a law for the construction of a Ram temple.
Abdeo, who participated in the movement calling for the Ram temple to be erected on the disputed site, said the VHP was also demanding an anti-conversion law, family planning act and cow protection.
The VHP will hold a meeting of Hindu religious heads during the Kumbh Mela in Nashik and Tryambakeshwar to push its centrepiece agendas, and its margadarshak mandal will meet on September 5. The next day, a sant sammelan will be held to discuss these issues and pass resolutions against social practices like untouchability.
Earlier, VHP international secretary general Champat Rai had told dna that before the Bill to construct a Ram temple at Ayodhya was passed, the Muslim community had to be "persuaded" to withdraw their claim on the disputed land and their case from the Supreme Court. He had said that the verdict of the Allahabad high court was sufficient for the government to make a law for the temple.
The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court had in 2010 ruled in a majority judgment that there be a three-way division of the land on which the Babri mosque stood — one part each for 'Ram Lalla' (infant Ram), the Nirmohi Akhada and Sunni Waqf Board. That high court verdict was subsequently stayed by the Supreme Court, which admitted appeals by both Hindu and Muslim organisations.
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