Patna: After its poor performance in the recently held assembly elections in five states, the BJP now faces a new challenge in Bihar.
The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) allies in Bihar, the JD(U) and LJP, have distanced themselves from a core BJP issue: building a Ram temple in Ayodhya. They have also urged the BJP to instead divert its focus towards issues like employment and agriculture ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
Lok Janshakti Party MP Chirag Paswan said, “Ram Mandir can only be the agenda of one party, not the agenda of the NDA or the Centre. We should wait for the court’s judgment on this matter.”
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On the issue of the ordinance, Paswan was very clear. He said, “We will abide by the court’s verdict. I do not think the government will bring an ordinance [to construct the temple].”
Previously, JD(U) general secretary Ram Chandra Pratap Singh said, “There should be no confusion regarding the JD(U)’s stand on the Ram temple issue. If the government brings an ordinance to construct the temple, the party will not abide by it.”
Chirag Paswan and Ram Vilas Paswan. Credit: PTI
Singh further said, “The construction of the temple should only take place on the court’s order or after mutual agreement amongst the concerned parties. When the Samta Party had entered into an alliance with the BJP in 1996, it made its stand clear that the temple could only be built following a court order or by mutual agreement. The JD(U) maintains this stand.”
Political strategist turned JD(U) vice-president Prashant Kishor said the BJP does not need the Ram temple issue to win the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. He said candidly, “The JD(U)’s core issue is vikas (development).”
Both Singh and Kishor are close to the party chief Nitish Kumar. Therefore, it has been assumed that their public statements highlighting the party’s differences with the BJP on the Ram temple are at Kumar’s instructions.
In recent days, Kumar has launched several initiatives to woo the Muslim voters of Bihar. Election analysts say that the BJP raising the Ram temple issue hinders Kumar’s plans. Recent events indicate, however, that the state’s Muslim population does not have much faith in the JD(U) anyway.
Two important issues
In addition, political analysts wish to divert attention to two important issues.
Political analyst Mahendra Suman said, “It is true that in the recent elections in five states, the Ram temple issue was resurrected, but to no effect. The LJP and the JD(U) seem to believe that raising it before the general elections will only harm the BJP’s electoral prospects. And they are worried that this could have harmful consequences for them as well.”
Additionally, both parties are anxious that the controversial issue will push other issues that the allies want to highlight to the margins.
Suman said, “The BJP has taken electoral advantage of the Ram temple issue before. LJP and JD(U) fear that by raising it again, the BJP will hijack the political agenda for 2019, pushing their issues own to the margin. This could engender conflict between the allies.”
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Since the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government was in power, the LJP and the JD(U) have disagreed with the BJP on issues such as Ram mandir, Article 370 and the uniform civil code. Recently, despite the BJP’s aggressive trumpeting of the issue, LJP and JD(U) leaders have maintained a silence.
But now, because the results of the assembly elections were disappointing, leaders from both parties have started voicing their disagreement.
Nitish Kumar and Prashant Kishor.
Soft Hindutva
Both Nitish Kumar and Ram Vilas Paswan are advocates of “soft Hindutva” and portray themselves as “secular leaders”. For that reason, they do not openly repudiate the Ram temple issue, but also do not vocally support it.
In light of the BJP’s aggressiveness, Kumar and Paswan believe that remaining silent will hurt their “secular” image. They also want to publicly and explicitly restate their stand on the issue.
JD(U) leader Neeraj Kumar said, “Instead of trying to resolve the Ram temple issue, both the BJP and the Congress used it as a political tool. But the people of the country are more interested in issues that pertain to their living conditions.”
He added, “Building the temple could only be one party’s agenda, it can never be the country’s agenda.”
A JD(U) leader revealed, on the condition of anonymity, that the party’s top leadership is worried its image will suffer if the BJP remains aggressive regarding the issue. This, the leaders worry, could lead to an electoral loss.
The BJP now faces a dilemma. In order to win the 2019 elections, it needs the support of regional parties. But it also needs the Hindu vote, which it has traditionally gotten through religious polarisation. If the BJP raises the Ram temple issue, the allies will be unhappy and might withdraw support. If it does not, it will disappoint (and thus lose) the Hindu voter who support the BJP for religious reasons.
The BJP’s silence on the JD(U) and LJP leaders’ statements testifies to the fact that the party is, at the moment, caught between the devil and the deep blue sea.
Umesh Kumar Ray is an independent journalist. Translated by Karan Dhingra.