Ahead of Ayodhya verdict — BJP’s code of conduct for leaders, cadre: Behave responsibly

On Monday, BJP general secretaries attended a meeting chaired by working president J P Nadda in the national capital to discuss the issue among other things. The party also held a meeting in Bengaluru for the southern region, in Kolkata for eastern region and Mumbai for the western region to discuss the code of conduct for that day.

“There is a list of dos and don’ts for the leaders on verdict day. None of the leaders should comment on it. From the government’s side, the Prime Minister will make a statement after the order comes, and ministers should wait for it to get the direction. From the party side, the BJP president will come out with his comment first,” a senior leader said.

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The verdict is expected before Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi retires on November 17.

Sources said a strict warning has been issued to every state as the BJP does not want to invite criticism for the behaviour of its leaders over the Ayodhya verdict. “Behave responsibly is the message,” a leader said. “Because it is a judicial matter and a legal verdict. It is not something a mob has to take over,” he added.

With the party being in power at the Centre and several states, the BJP leadership is concerned about the “consequences” if “things go out of hand”. The leadership is also aware of the international attention over the issue.

Earlier, the RSS had asked its cadres to stay calm after the verdict. Many programmes of the RSS and its affiliates, which were scheduled between November 10 and 20, have been cancelled or postponed and leaders asked to remain at their headquarters.

Last week, the RSS issued a statement saying that “everyone should accept” the Supreme Court verdict with an “open mind”.

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On October 27, addressing his Mann Ki Baat program, PM Modi had said that the language used by “several interest groups” was inflammatory and tried to exploit the situation ahead of the 2010 Allahabad High Court ruling on the dispute. He also recalled how political parties and civil society played a mature role uniting people when efforts were made to create fissures. “Some loudmouths had made irresponsible statements just to hog the limelight… It continued for five to 10 days,” he had said.