Seeking counter-narrative to temple, JD(U) adds ‘Ram is everyone’s… will go to event if invited’

“BJP is desperately trying to get political mileage out of it before the next Lok Sabha polls... Mixing religion with politics is wrong,” says K C Tyagi

JDU(U) leader K C Tyagi also recalled socialist icon Ram Manohar Lohia's belief that Lord Ram represented the fusion of North and South. (Express file photo by Vishal Srivastav)

A day after urging the INDIA bloc, especially the Congress, to offer “a sound counter-narrative” such as a caste survey and other national issues to the BJP government’s Ram Temple rhetoric, senior JD(U) leader K C Tyagi said the party was not in any dilemma regarding the event, unlike other parties in the alliance.

The temple was built by the government after the Supreme Court verdict and not by any political party, Tyagi said, and if invited, the party would have no hesitation sending a representative to attend.

“Ram belongs to everyone. We respect all religions. If there is an invitation to attend the Ayodhya temple opening ceremony, we will surely send someone to attend it,” Tyagi, the JD (U) advisor and chief national spokesperson, told The Indian Express, though he regretted “the unnecessary hype” over the issue. “The BJP is desperately trying to get political mileage out of it before the next Lok Sabha elections… Mixing religion with politics is wrong.”

Tyagi added: “Even when the matter was pending before the Supreme Court, we had said we would accept the court order. Now that the temple has been built after the court settled the issue, we respect it.”

About getting an invite for the Ram Temple consecration, the JD(U) leader said: “It does not matter who goes to Ayodhya on January 22. We will go there at our own time and pace if there is no invitation.”

Tyagi also recalled what then Prime Minister V P Singh had told BJP leader L K Advani – that as long as the matter was pending before courts, the government could not share the disputed land. Quoting the former PM, Tyagi said: “If we do anything, the government would lose the trust of the minorities.”

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Tyagi also recalled socialist icon Ram Manohar Lohia’s belief that Lord Shiva represented universal love, Ram the fusion of North and South, and Krishna the amalgamation of East and West. “Hence, the socialists’ position on respecting all religions has been very clear,” the leader of the JD(U), which swears by its socialist ideals, said.

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A JD(U) MLC and member of the Bihar State Board of Religious Trusts, Neeraj Kumar, said: “We have said time and again that we respect all religions. If our government has fenced temples, it has also fenced cemeteries. We are surprised at the attempts to drum up politics around the Ayodhya temple.”

Accusing the BJP government of ignoring the “hundreds of temples” removed during the construction and expansion of national highways, Kumar said: “It is time the BJP stopped using temples and religion as an electoral tool.”

The Nitish Kumar government’s policies and programmes duly reflected its secular credentials, he added.

Santosh Singh

Santosh Singh is a Senior Assistant Editor with The Indian Express since June 2008. He covers Bihar with main focus on politics, society and governance. Investigative and explanatory stories are also his forte. Singh has 25 years of experience in print journalism covering Bihar, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka. ... Read More