Editorial: Temple run

CHENNAI: With less than three weeks to go for the consecration of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya, the excitement in the BJP camp has hit fever pitch. The ceremony has prompted rhetoric from the Opposition, which has accused the ruling dispensation of toying with faith as its calling card to garner mileage in the upcoming Parliament elections. A point of contention pertains to the invitations that have been sent to various political leaders, as well as celebrities and VVIPs to attend the function.

Several opposition leaders had backed out from attending the event, as they accused the BJP and RSS of wielding religion as a political tool. The Indian Union Muslim League’s national general secretary PK Kunhalikutty also said that targeting the Congress over the party’s response to the invitation extended to its leaders will only give publicity to the BJP’s agenda to make the event a political milestone. Sonia Gandhi is the only invitee from the Congress’s first family to the January 22 consecration, as the siblings Rahul and Priyanka ‘do not qualify’ to receive invitations based on the criteria set by the Ram Mandir Teerth Kshetra Trust. The invitation was extended to the veteran in her capacity as chief of the Congress Parliamentary Party.

The trust is sending out invitations to three categories of political attendees — mainstream party chiefs, opposition leaders in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, and those who participated in the Ram temple movement between 1984 and 1992. Tellingly, BJP veterans LK Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi, who were at the forefront of the agitation for the temple in Ayodhya, are unlikely to attend the ceremony owing to their health and age, the temple trust had said last month. The controversy around the invitations is just one side of the story. A slew of restrictions and embargoes have also fallen into place in areas adjoining ground zero on account of the consecration ceremony.

For instance, Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath’s government had imposed a ban on the sale of liquor and meat in the entire 84 Kosi Parikrama Marg (a stretch spanning 150-175 km) region of the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya. This measure comes in the wake of a demand from seers and sadhus in the area to ban the sale and consumption of alcohol as well as meat products to uphold the sanctity of the holy site. The meat vendors in these parts, who regard the armed forces personnel, as well as members of the Hindu community as a majority of the customer base, are now left without a means of livelihood. Apart from them, thousands of workers employed as waiters, cooks, and cleaners with bars, restaurants and liquor shops located in these parts are also staring at a bleak future.

In line with the sentiment in Ayodhya, Chhattisgarh CM Vishnu Deo Sai also said his government has decided to declare January 22 as a dry day. The ripple effect will be seen in Gujarat’s capital as well, as the BJP-ruled Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) has approved a proposal to name various bridges and other public places after Lord Ram and other characters, as well as places mentioned in the epic Ramayana. Interestingly, the administration in the until-now dry state had only last week announced lifting the ban on sale and consumption of liquor in GIFT City to provide a ‘global business ecosystem’ there. To paraphrase Morpheus from The Matrix, some rules can be bent, others can be broken.