NEW DELHI: The constitution of the Ram temple trust by the Centre is likely to give a shot in the arm for the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in his bid for consolidation of the Hindu vote base in the run-up to the 2022 Assembly elections in the state.
Building on the legacy of Gorakhdham Math in Gorakhpur for leading the Ramjanmabhoomi movement, Yogi has been strongly identifying with Ayodhya.
“From the time of his Guru and former Lok Sabha MP Mahant Avaidnath, Gorakhdham has been at the forefront of the Ram Temple movement. Adityanath also hosted large gatherings of saints for the Ram temple in Gorakhpur. It will be a dream come true for him if the temple is constructed when he is at the helm of affairs in the state,” said a close aide of Yogi Adityanath.
From the proposed building of the tallest Ram statue to holding annual Deepotsav, Adityanath has shown his urge to own up the political legacy of Ayodhya. The Ram Janmabhoomi movement had powered the BJP to wrest power in the state first under the leadership of former chief minister Kalyan Singh.
“The challenge for the BJP in UP is to overwhelm the political caste identities. The head priest by tradition in Gorakhdham has always been a Dalit. The Ram Temple trust will also have a Dalit as a member. That is a strong signal for the Dalit to identify as Hindu in their political choices, which is the main thrust of the BJP in the state,” said a senior BJP functionary.
The BJP leaders claimed that the construction of the Ram temple will become visible by the time UP goes to polls in 2022 to help the party build on the narrative for the consolidation of Hindu vote base. The BJP leaders stressed that the Ram temple would be completed before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
“With the UP chief minister putting Ayodhya at the centre stage of the cultural development plans of the state, Adityanath will be pouring more resources in the holy city in the coming time,” added the BJP leader.
The BJP, incidentally, was able to register resounding success in the 2017 state polls and 2019 Lok Sabha elections in the state on the back of consolidation of upper caste, extremely backward castes, while making inroads in OBC and Dalit vote bases of the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samajwadi Party (BSP).
Lawyer’s home to be trust’s office
The ‘Shri Ram Janmbhoomi Teerth Kshetra’, the trust set up to construct a Ram temple in Ayodhya, will be located at the Delhi residence of two-time Attorney General of India K Parasaran, the lead counsel for the Hindu parties in the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid title dispute case.
In the first meeting, the 15 Board of Trustees “shall deliberate upon a permanent office of the trust”, which may be shifted from time to time to some other place as the Trustees may deem fit...