As the September 24 court verdict on Ayodhya draws closer, there appears to be uncertainty, if not incoherence, among the principal actors of the Ram Janmabhoomi movement; they are notably unwilling to commit themselves to any course of action. Though hectic meetings are taking place between the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), the fact remains that the Sangh Parivar appears at a loss on how to bring this issue to any sort of closure.
The roots of this uncertainty lie in the fact that a large number of people who were associated with the movement feel betrayed by it, and by those who ran it. What has been called the largest mass movement of independent India is, in fact, going abegging for ownership, now that its popular appeal has become a matter of serious doubt.
Earlier last week, the Parivar patriarch, RSS sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat, said that the RSS would respect the letter of the law and democratic principles in reacting to the verdict. ?There is always the Supreme Court after the high court verdict,? he claimed.
According to sources, hardliners were upset with this statement, some of whom felt that if the court verdict was all that could bring closure to Ayodhya, then the movement had only been a means to an end, a propellant for the BJP to gain power. ?There is tension between hardliners and the rest and also the spreading realisation that the issue may not provoke mass mobilisation like before,? said a top RSS office-bearer.
In the last few days, therefore, there has been a subtle shift in positions. Instead of stating that the court verdict would bring closure, the RSS has been putting the onus on the government. ?The government should bring in a legislation which would enable the construction of a temple at the Janmabhoomi,? said RSS spokesperson Ram Madhav.
The BJP, the most public and political face of the movement, is bracing for the verdict with a mixture of fear and anxiety. All its attempts to move beyond Ayodhya will be tested post September 24.
But the real worry in all this is whether or not the communal temperature in the country, specifically in UP and Bihar, will go up, after the verdict. The Cabinet?s appeal on Thursday for calm has been reflected in the UP state government?s own proactive measures to pre-empt any violence in the state.
That?s because both the Congress and the BSP have much to lose if communal polarisation of any sort occurs in UP. The Congress fears a return to the 1990s and early 2000s when it was all but wiped out in the state under the dual onslaught of Mandal-Mandir politics. The BSP knows communal polarisation will help the Samajwadi Party.
There can be no return to the 1990s. The fact remains that despite a huge movement, and six years of NDA rule, a grand Ram Temple does not exist in Ayodhya. The RSS and BJP seem to have made peace with that. September 24 will show whether they are finally ready to acknowledge that to themselves and the nation.