Shiv Sena’s Ayodhya pitch: Old wine, new bottle. But is the timing right?
Shiv Sena’s Ayodhya pitch: Old wine new bottle. But is the right timing?
With the Supreme Court making it clear that Ayodhya case will be heard only in January 2019, since it is not a priority, it will be interesting to see what the Shiv Sena will do with its plan to rake up the issue in the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections.
And will Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray’s rhetoric against the BJP — that if the BJP is unable to build the Ram Temple, Shiv Sena will build it — hold good this time around?
I am sure Uddhav knows the issue is not about funds for construction of the temple.
It is a legal and the political labyrinth, and he knows it only too well.
Uddhav knows that construction of Ram temple in Ayodhya has never been the Sena’s responsibility — and it will not be in the foreseeable future.
These tactics, however, are not new to the Sena.
In 1992, Uddhav’s father and Sena supremo Bal Thackeray was quick to announce that he was “proud of the Shiv Sainiks who were responsible for bringing the Babri Masjid down.”
He knew very well that Sainiks alone were not responsible for bringing the mosque down, but since no one was willing to accept the responsibilty, he was quick to take credit.
Balasaheb knew very well that he and the Sainiks could not be implicated in any way.
He bacame the “Hindu Hriday Samrat” or the conqueror of the hearts of the Hindus — a political image that suited his hard-line of Hindutva politics and was much sought after in those days.
Over a quarter century thence, Uddhav seems to be replicating his father’s moves.
However is the situation the same as it was in 1992?
While Bal Thackeray attempted to take credit for BJP’s actions and ride the Hindutva wave, Uddhav’s call of “Chalo Ayodhya” seems to be miscalculated. The Sainiks perhaps wanted to create a fracas ahead of the Supreme Court hearing.
In a hurry to ride the mandir wave, Uddhav's birthday hoardings were put up outside Matoshree, giving the 'chalo Ayodhya' call.
With the government at the Centre battling multiple concerns including economic woes, rising fuel prices, not much to show on “Make In India” front and farmers’ despair — Sena knew the BJP would use the Ram Mandir issue to ride back to power.
The Supreme Court’s refusal to refer the Ayodhya case to a larger bench and Mohan Bhagwat calling for a law to build the Ram temple, just ahead of Uddhav’s Dussehra rally — further confirmed the Sena's assesment.
Shiv Sena has lately been very critical of the BJP government — not only in Maharashtra, but also at the Center.
Sena, despite being part of the government, has been calling it a complete failure.
The scenario was different two years ago when BJP, winning one state election after another, did not care much for its coalition partner.
However, things are different now.
Despite Saamana (Sena’s mouthpiece) lashing out at the BJP on every issue, both the parties understand it would be impossible to repeat their 2014 figures of 42 out of 48 seats if they don't ally with each other in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections — especially now, as the Congress and NCP seem to be heading towards forming a grand allinace with smaller parties.
Perhaps Ayodhya looked as an easy way out for Uddhav at that point.
However, in hindsight, Uddhav has to answer whether his party will actually build the Ram Mandir in case his political ally is unable to — BJP clearly cannot do so before the elections.