Rajnath to MPs: Be patient on Mandir

New Delhi: At a time when Hindutva organisations are ramping up pressure on the Narendra Modi government to bring a law to build Ram Temple in Ayodhya, home minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday asked BJP lawmakers to be patient on the issue.

Mr Singh’s advice to party leaders came soon after the Ram temple matter was raised by party leaders from Uttar Pradesh in the BJP’s parliamentary party meeting on Tuesday, sources said.

“Dhairya rakhiye (be patient),” said Mr Singh after Ravindra Kushwaha and Hari Narayan Rajbhar, both of whom represent Lok Sabha constituencies from Uttar Pradesh, said that people keep asking them as to when the temple will be built.

Mr Singh said that everyone wants a Ram temple at the site where Lord Ram is believed to be born.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi was not present in meeting, nor was party president Amit Shah.

After the BJP’s humiliating defeat in the recently concluded Assembly polls in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan, a section of leaders in the party  is of the view that paving the way for the temple’s construction will boost its prospects in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

Pushing the Ram Temple agenda appears to be the only option to garner votes in a scenario in which otherwise looks dismal in the wake of a resurgent Congress and the government’s failure to convince farmers, youths and the middle class that it is working tirelessly for them.

Sources disclosed that when Mr Kushwaha, an MP from Salempur, and Mr Rajbhar, an MP from Ghosi, raised the issue many others supported them.

Hindutva organisations, including the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh, have in the past few months intensified their demand for early construction of the temple. Many leaders,  including RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, have pitched for a law to enable it.

Though the BJP has agreed with the sentiments of these organisations, it has so far not come out in support of a law.

The Ram Temple land dispute is presently being heard in the Supreme Court.

Earlier, Mr Singh urged party MPs to confidently prepare for the Lok Sabha elections and asserted that the Opposition has no leader to match Mr Modi’s popularity. “We are far ahead of the Opposition. Circumstances are very good for us,” Mr Singh said, according to parliamentary affairs minister Narendra Singh Tomar.

Mr Tomar also told reporters that the passage of the triple talaq bill, which stipulates jail term for Muslim men accused of giving instant divorce to their wives, in Parliament is a top priority for the government.

Law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad briefed party MPs on the Supreme Court’s judgment on the Rafale deal, the conviction of Congress leader Sajjan Kumar in an anti-Sikh riots case besides the triple talaq legislation, Mr Tomar said.