The signs have been there for a while now — the BJP will not go into the 2019 Lok Sabha poll sans the Ram Mandir issue

It has never been a secret in the mainstream Indian centre right — for lack of a better, equally-intelligible-to-all term — that though Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s charisma, his governance record in Gujarat and the fantastic campaign his team put together for the 2014 General Election ensured a shift of a sizeable chunk of non-core BJP voters to the party, the ideological issues that have been articulated by the BJP through support for demands such as that of a Ram Temple to be built in Ayodhya were never put on the back-burner unlike under the AB Vajpayee-led first BJP/NDA Government. The RSS chief’s traditional Vijay Dashami address to the Sangh cadre in which he called upon the Government publicly to bring in a law/ordinance for the construction of a Ram temple at the janmasthaan in Ayodhya has, however, now made it clear that while the inclusive sabka saath sabka vikaas campaign may well continue into the 2019 election it will probably be co-terminus with a Hindu cultural pride outreach. The stand of the BJP on the Sabarimala Temple issue too, it may be noted, is one of simultaneity — the party has officially welcomed the Supreme Court’s 4:1 majority verdict lifting the restrictions on females between the age of 10 and 50 from entering the hill-top shrine, while on the ground in Kerala the party and its affiliated organisations, just like the Congress and even a section of the Communists, have aided in the organisation of ‘devotee protests’ against the women who have tried to visit the temple to pay obeisance. The point is that there has been mass upsurge against the apex court order among a largely traditional populace and that is being reflected in power-seeking political parties, and there are no other kind, aligning themselves with popular sentiment.

In this context, the largely drawing room conversations in metros around how the Ram Temple issue will be subject to the law of diminishing political returns does not perhaps take into account which way popular Hindu sentiment if aroused will go in the event of proactive measure from the Government on the lines urged by the RSS chief. While the jury is still out on whether there will be a mass upsurge as was seen in north and west India at the peak of the Ram temple movement led by LK Advani, the power of such an emotive and deeply felt issue should not be underestimated. Look at it like this: There will be some impact for sure, and perhaps enough for many who may otherwise be not too happy with the current regime’s performance in handling the economy, creating employment and boosting infrastructure to support the BJP on an issue that symbolises Hindu cultural pride. And the BJP could not really be accused of springing a rabbit out of a hat because unlike in the past, the current party leadership is not apologetic or diffident about accepting that its commitment to core, defining ideological issues and a secular good governance for all citizens is not mutually exclusive.