Bhagwat steals Shiv Sena thunder on Ram temple

MUMBAI: RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat may have stolen Shiv Sena’s thunder on the morning of Dussehra by demanding an ordinance for construction of the Ram temple. The Sena had hoped to ratchet up pressure on the Modi government at its annual Dassehra rally in the evening, with Uddhav Thackeray not only pushing for an ordinance in but also announcing dates for his Ayodhya visit next month. If the NDA government admits it can’t build the temple, Sena will gather every Hindu of the country to do the job, Uddhav said.

Thackeray accused the Centre of exploiting the Ram temple issue for political purposes. “The temple case was pulled out of the mothballs during the Presidential election in 2017 to keep LK Advani from occupying the highest office,” he alleged

But Bhagwat’s ‘pre-emptive strike’ may have come as a dampener for the standoffish BJP ally which has hoping to make a splash at its rally with pronouncements on the mandir issue. The pronouncements were indeed made, but only after Bhagwat had spoken first and drawn nationwide attention.
While Sena has repeatedly said the Modi government should immediately start construction, it upped the ante early this month when Uddhav met chief of the Ram Janmabhoomi Trust Janmejay Sharanji Maharaj. Following the meeting, the Sena announced its president would go to Ayodhya .
Four days later, Sena leader Sanjay Raut, while felicitating Sanatan Sanstha lawyer Sanjeev Punalekar, appealed to Hindus to “join Sena in Ayodhya for construction of the mandir.”
Raut called for an ordinance on Ayodhya, saying the issue was “not legal to be sorted out in courts but political and religious” and asked why the government was delaying building the mandir when the PM, UP CM, the President and UP governor were “all of the BJP” .

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