Supreme Court verdict bolsters PM’s Hindu image

New Delhi: As the Supreme Court’s verdict yet again bolstered Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s image as “Hindu Hriday Samrat,” the original poster boy of Hindutva and the architect of the Ram Janmabhoomi movement, L.K. Advani, remained in the shadows. No one in the party talked about the old warhorse today.

Later in the evening, Mr Advani issued a short statement saying “I feel vindicated and deeply blessed that the Supreme Court has given its unanimous verdict paving the way for the construction of a magnificent temple for Lord Rama...”

A VHP functionary felt that the “closure” of the Ram Janmabhoomi dispute is bound to add to Modi’s legacy of steering the nation towards the grand vision of establis-hing a Hindu Rashtra.”

However, after taking over the reign of the nation, Prime Minister has always spoken of a united India and stressed on the mantra — Sabke saath, Sabka vikas.

He had also urged people of the country not to construe the Ayodhya verdict as a “matter of victory or loss.”

Addressing the nation hours after the verdict, Mr Modi  described “November 9 as a day to forget any bitterness one may have” and observed that “there is no place for fear, bitterness and negativity in new India.”

With the top court ruling in favour of the Hindu plaintiff, the BJP government has nearly ticked all the Hindutva boxes it had in its kitty — Abrogation of Article 370 and NRC. The only major core issue remaining to be clinched is the “Unif-orm Civil Code.” Some ultra right-wing outfits also want the word “secular” to be removed from the Constitution.

At a time when the economic slowdown has put the government on the backfoot and resulted in its poor show in Haryana and Maharashtra Assem-bly polls, the Supreme Court’s verdict came as a major boost for the party. Some of the BJP spin doctors felt that the verdict would offer the BJP a “fighting chance in Delhi and Jharkhand Assembly polls.”