Ayodhya: Rhetoric of temple building, religion missing; caste cauldron to work in polls

Bang in the middle of the Chowk in Ayodhya, the Uttar Pradesh town believed by the Hindus to be the birthplace of their deity Lord Rama, stands a ghantaghar (clock tower).

Legend has it that the tower was built in the middle of the town’s busiest roundabout by the king of Balrampur, a nearby town that was part of an ancient kingdom but is now known for its sugar mills, to celebrate the victory of the British after the 1857 mutiny by Indians soldiers.

In many ways, the clock tower is a symbol of Ayodhya’s twisted history.

Makeshift temple put up

On December 6, 1992, activists led by hardline Hindu organisations had demolished a disputed mosque in Ayodhya. They razed it in violation of the law claiming it reminded them of the Mughal era since it was built by a representative of Babar on the very site where Lord Rama was born. The disputed mosque—the Hindus called it a blot on their pride— was later replaced by a heavily fortified idol of Rama kept under tarpaulin.

Hundreds of devotees walk everyday through the labyrinthine lanes of Ayodhya and security checks to see Ram Lalla Virajman (the deity present as a minor), turning the makeshift shrine one of the most revered places in India.

Historical evidence of Rama’s existence or that of Ayodhya being his birthplace is disputed. Yet, hardline Hindus triggered independent India’s biggest communal flashpoint by their violent agitation for removal of the Babri Mosque and its subsequent demolition. It led to several rounds of riots, left behind a trail of blood and created deep fissures on India’s social fabric.

But, in the middle of the same town, a symbol of India’s colonial past, a reminder of its first failed fight for independence stands with great pride. Close to its spire, dozens of saffron flags of the BJP — the party that spearheaded and gained from the Ram Temple movement— flutter in the scorching summer wind. Nobody has ever called the turret in the Chowk a symbol of hurt Indian pride. It is among the town’s biggest landmarks.

BJP mute on temple construction

In this town of selective pride and prejudice, the BJP is battling a different insult to its residents this year — the party’s refusal to talk about the promised Ram Temple at the disputed site. In its traditional bastion, voters are upset about the party’s failure in delivering one of its biggest promises — Mandir wahin banayenge (we will build the temple at the disputed site) — even after five years of a majority government at the Centre and two years of Yogi Adityanath in Lucknow. “The BJP hasn’t talked about the temple at all this election. It knows people will attack it for its failure,” says Rakesh Kumar, a 35-year-old journalist who runs an independent news agency. His father, a witness to many Ram Temple agitations, argues the BJP’s discomfort is manifest in the Prime Minister’s proposed election rally in the region. “He is not coming to Ayodhya, but to an adjoining town.”

Caste to dominate outcome of polls

With the BJP being on the mute on the very issue that catapulted it from a mere 2 seats in 1984 to 88 in the next election, the election in Ayodhya is being contested on caste calculations. It is primarily a battle between the BSP-SP Mahagathbandhan’s phalanx of Dalit-Yadav-Muslim against the BJP’s social base of upper castes. The Congress is also in the fray, but only as a hopeful recipient of votes from those unhappy with the two main contenders.

“The BJP has not been able to polarise the electorate on communal lines this year. The fight is going to be very close,” says Kumar. The BJP’s only hope of breaching this phalanx is through a campaign aimed at evoking Passi pride. The Mahagathbandhan candidate Arun Sen Yadav, contesting on an SP ticket, is one of the accused in the murder of a Passi girls. Though he was acquitted by the high court, anger against him still remains with the Dalit Passis. The BJP hopes it benefits from a division of the Dalit vote.

Journalist KP Singh, whose office is in the middle of the saffron bastion of Subhash Nagar — a commercial area dotted with BJP flags — says the Modi wave has receded. “The fight is between candidates and the caste groups that support them. Modi is not a big factor this time.”

The BJP’s core constituency, however, doesn’t agree. A burly young man sits in front of a temple in a lane leading to the disputed site with a caged bird. For ₹11, he will ask the bird to come out of the cage and pick up your fortune card. When asked to predict the outcome of 2019, he says it’s Modiji all the way. In a sentence embellished with some colourful words, he claims the opposition can use the entire dum (force) of a certain parts of its anatomy, but it still won’t be able to dislodge the PM. Why this soothsayer whose livelihood depends on a caged bird and the money visitors pay to a dilapidated temple his family runs would want to vote for the BJP is difficult to understand. His aggro and language deter us from questioning him further.

Development front

But, the BJP’s case isn’t compelling. With its open drains, narrow roads littered with waste, run-down buildings and very little signs of progress, Ayodhya seems caught in a time warp. Those visiting it after the tumultuous days of the Ram temple agitation notice very few signs of vikas, the PM’s favourite poll word in 2014.

For many years, people voted for the promised temple. This year, even that hope is missing. The boulders, columns and idols of the proposed temple remain stored in a workshop on the outskirts of the town. For typical Indian tourists, they have become an easy target for wall graffiti — the trademark scribbling of their own names to show they were there. Just like the tower in the Chowk that reminds Ayodhya that the British were there.B