BJP raises the pitch on Ram Mandir issue

With the judgment in the Ayodhya court case just round the corner, the Bhartiya Janata Party is striving to raise the pitch on the controversial issue.

This was amply demonstrated at the party's two-day long state executive meet that concluded in Lucknow on Sunday.

Spelling it out in the valedictory address, amidst reverberating cries of Jai Shree Ram, former national BJP president Rajnath Singh declared, "The Ayodhya temple is bound to be a reality -- come what may."

"Who does not believe that Lord Ram was born in Ayodhya," he asked.

Training his guns at the Opposition, he said, "I wish to tell such political parties who repeatedly want to know why the BJP always raises the Ayodhya issue, that if we do not do so, then who else will?"

Singh sought to point out, "There is no other political party in the country that is interested in talking about the construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya. Likewise, there is no one to raise the Kashmir issue or the Ram setu question. Therefore we must consider it our foremost duty to fight for the cause of the temple, which is closely related to the cultural ethos and heritage of this nation."

Later, Singh flayed the Mayawati-led state government for enhancing security measures to counter the possible fallout of the forthcoming judgment, which will be delivered by a special bench of the Allahabad high court by mid-September.

"I feel the state government's move to beef up security to unprecedented levels could prove counter-productive by causing unnecessary tension," he observed.

Singh chose to remain evasive when a scribe sought his reaction to Vishwa Hindu Parishad supremo Ashok Singhal's accusation that the BJP was responsible for 'politicising' the Ayodhya issue.

"I am not aware of any such remarks by him, so I would not like to comment on that," he shot back.