BJP to lose power if it fails to build temple: Uddhav Thackeray

AYODHYA: Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray said on Sunday that BJP may not be able to form government at Centre again if it does not start construction of Ram temple in Ayodhya at the earliest. After offering prayers to Ram Lalla in the makeshift temple at the disputed site in Ayodhya, Thackeray said with just a few months left for the Lok Sabha elections, the government should either make a law or bring an ordinance for construction of temple.
He said Shiv Sena had always supported BJP in its Hindutva agenda and would continue to do so. However, Sena would decide its course of action if the government 'accepts' that it cannot build the temple.

‘BJP should tell people about its gimmick’

Did the government go to court for triple talaq or for demonetisation? The government is powerful and should do whatever is required to build the temple at the earliest,” Thackeray said.

Pointing out that BJP had a majority on its own in the present Lok Sabha, he said: “Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s government was a coalition and we could not have raised this issue then. But this government is very powerful. If this government doesn’t build the temple, then who will? The temple will be built, but if this government doesn’t build it, then it may not survive.”

Quoting Vajpayee, who had said “Hindu maar nahin khayega (Hindu cannot be subdued)”, the Sena chief added that Hindus have become powerful and Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray had instilled confidence in them.

“Hindus will not remain silent now. They will ask when the temple will be built. I had heard that UP chief minister had said ‘Mandir thaa, hai aur rahega (The temple was there, is there and will remain there)’. But these are just feelings. The temple cannot be seen. When will the temple be seen?” he said.

Accusing BJP of using the temple as a ‘chunavi jumla’, Thackeray said that its 2014 election manifesto stated that all possibilities within the framework of the Constitution for construction of temple would be considered. “Before election it is Ram-Ram but after election, it is ‘aaram’ (comfort). How many possibilities were explored in last four years, and could they not find a single way for temple construction? If only the court has to decide, then BJP should stop using it and tell people that it was only an election gimmick,” Thackeray said.

Earlier, Uddhav, his wife Rashmi and son Aditya, accompanied by party MP Sanjay Raut, visited the makeshift temple in the Ramjanmabhoomi-Babri Masjid complex and offered prayers to Ram Lalla.

Thackeray, who had landed in Faizabad in a chartered flight, left by noon, around the time VHP’s Dharm Sabha started. Around 4,000-5,000 Shiv Sena supporters, mostly from Maharashtra, had also travelled to Ayodhya to support the call for law or ordinance for paving way for temple construction.