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Journalism of Courage
“After India got political independence from the British on August 15, 1947, a written Constitution was drafted… But the document was not followed according to the spirit of the vision at that time… The true independence of India, which had faced many centuries of persecution, was achieved on that day (the day of the consecration of the Ram Temple at Ayodhya),” RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat said a week ago.
Days later, in his first Mann ki Baat address of the year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said: “This Dwadashi (an auspicious day in the lunar calendar) of Pran Pratishtha (Ram Temple consecration) is the Dwadashi of the re-establishment of the cultural consciousness of India.”
A year after the PM led the consecration of the Ayodhya temple, marking the end of a long BJP campaign, there appears to be an attempt to rekindle the conversation around it. Contrary to the BJP’s expectations, the Lok Sabha elections held after the consecration had not yielded the party political dividends – the BJP, in fact, saw its tally plunge in Uttar Pradesh, losing even the Faizabad Lok Sabha seat under which Ayodhya falls, and overall across the country.
The remarks by Bhagwat and Modi come amidst the rising Hindutva pitch by the BJP government in UP, led by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath – well in time for the 2027 Assembly polls, where a resurgent Samajwadi Party hopes to give the BJP a good fight.
Sources pointed out that the RSS chief’s statement also takes a stab at the Opposition campaign centred around the Constitution, with the Congress in particular projecting itself as the true preserver of its provisions. It is also a counter to the Congress’s line of attack against the RSS of having had “no role in the freedom struggle”, unlike its own history of it.
As per BJP leaders, by putting “cultural sovereignty” on the same pedestal as political freedom, Bhagwat struck at the Congress’s vulnerable flank when it comes to religion. “Why did the Congress government (led by Jawaharlal Nehru) take the initiative to reconstruct the Somnath Temple in Gujarat, and why did Mahatma Gandhi give his support to it? If political freedom was everything, those leaders would not have done that,” argues an RSS leader.
Some in the BJP also see Bhagwat’s statement as a censure of the new claims springing up about “temples underlying mosques”. Back in June 2022, amidst renewed tensions over the Gyanvapi Masjid in Varanasi, the RSS chief had questioned those “looking for Shivling in every mosque” and said the Sangh was not in favour of any more “andolan (agitation)” on this issue.
However, for the past two months, since a claim was made about an ancient temple existing under a mosque dating to the time of Emperor Babur in Sambhal, similar allegations have been coming, especially from across UP, with members of Sangh affiliates behind many such cases. BJP leaders said that by marking the Ayodhya temple as a cornerstone in India’s cultural history, Bhagwat has sought to play down the need for new claims.
“In today’s scenario, there are ways other than embarking on an agitation or an aggressive route on these issues. You can try other ways as well. It does not mean that any file is closed, but there can be a process to get there,” an RSS leader says.
Another message being read in Bhagwat’s speech is his endorsement of the role of Modi and his government in fulfilling the Sangh Parivar’s long-cherished dream of the Ayodhya Ram Temple. Since the Lok Sabha elections, when a rift between the Sangh and BJP was believed to have contributed directly to the steep fall in the party’s numbers, the two have tried to seal the cracks.
In its ongoing organisational revamp, the BJP has been careful to accommodate RSS recommendations as state chiefs, as reflected recently in Assam and Goa. Both two-time Lok Sabha MP Dilip Saikia who was elected unopposed as the Assam unit president and Damu G Naik named the new Goa chief have deep RSS roots and good links with Sangh leaders.
BJP insiders say that the new team, including the party president to be chosen at the end of the organisational exercise, would bear the RSS stamp. Between 2019, when Modi returned to power for the second time with an even greater majority, and 2024 when it fell short of a majority, the BJP leadership was seen to have acted at times independent of the Sangh’s wishes.
Although there is still no clarity over who would be the new BJP president, replacing J P Nadda, the names doing the rounds all have an RSS background – be it Shivraj Singh Chouhan or Manohar Lal Khattar, both former chief ministers and current Cabinet ministers.
