The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has travelled a long way since December 6, 1992, when the Babri mosque in Ayodhya was demolished by saffron fanatics who wanted the Ram Mandir in that spot instead. It was a political mobilisation by the BJP under the leadership of Lal Krishna Advani and many others to capitalise on the ruins of the Congress system.
After the late Rajiv Gandhi's political blunders, namely, the Shah Bano case and unlocking of the Babri Masjid in the mid-1980s, it was just a matter of time that the BJP would have made it their main political weapon.
But 25 years since the demolition of the masjid, is it still a burning issue in India's political discourse? Does the generation of today really identify itself with that episode?
No, they don't. But they do identify themselves well with Narendra Modi, the current prime minister and there lies the significance. The Ram Mandir issue might look the same as it was in 1992 but for the BJP, its implication has changed.
Even after 25 years, Babri demolition issue is a win-win for PM Narendra Modi
First of all, the Ayodhya case today leads to a win-win situation for PM Modi and the BJP. At a time when the Opposition has virtually been wiped out and a liberalised India which strongly believes that Modi is the man who can truly take India to great heights by making the right use of the country's advantages and resources, revisiting Ayodhya as a cornerstone of the majoritarian sentiments will only give the saffron camp's vision of India a fillip.
Ayodhya's return to the headlines after the Supreme Court suggested an amicable resolution to the dispute has given the Modi regime a welcome opportunity to revive the sentimental issue without having issuing a single provocative word.
The BJP had to do nothing to stoke the majoritarian sentiments this time: A welcome development
This brings us to the second significance. The BJP has been accused of stocking communal fire each time it wanted to bring the Ayondhya issue to the forefront. It has invariably placed the party leadership before uncomfortable questions: Is Modi for development but the BJP for communal polarisation?
This time, with the BJP having UP in its kitty following its massive win in the elections held earlier this year, nothing could have been sweeter than the courts raking up the Ram Mandir issue. For Modi who needs the matter again to achieve a hat-trick of emphatic victories in UP [after 2014 and 2017] in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, this is a terrific turn of events.
The BJP hasn't lost sight of its aim despite the old guard's fall
The third significance is related to the BJP's internal dynamics. It is a paradox that just when the party's old guard is facing law over the Babri demolition case, the new guard is trying to make the most of the focus on the issue.
UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and other state ministers and leaders received Advani after he reached Lucknow on Tuesday and just a day after a special CBI court charged the patriarch along with Murli Manohar Joshi, current central minister Uma Bharti and others with criminal conspiracy, Adityanath made a visit to Ayodhya and offered prayers at the disputed site.
The plot is simple: Even as the Margdarshaks who make up the old BJP face legal music, the current BJP has not lost sight of the aim which is to build the temple. With a whopping majority at the Centre and UP, the BJP is in the best position ever to go forward with its plan and if it doesn't, it would only leave its core constituency feel betrayed. Babri is past but Ram Mandir can always be the future.
Ahead of the 2019 battle, it is a crucial issue for the BJP and it has smartly made use of the situation towards its own advantage. The central government is focused on making Ayodhya a frontline city and also promote tourism centred on Ramayana to make it a focal point. It is extremely crucial for the saffron party's leadership to do the maximum to keep Ayodhya in everybody's focus.
There is very little possibility of the BJP veterans going to jail because of their roles in the 1992 mayhem, which immunises Modi from any internal rift in the BJP, while any such possibility will only enhance Modi's image, tossing the Opposition's chances of growing an anti-incumbency based on the beef issue, out of the window.
