The Telegraph, June 18 , 2013
Modi backs off Ayodhya trip
OUR BUREAU
June 17: Narendra Modi has cried off a planned visit to Ayodhya to attend an event organised by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, prompting suggestions that he does not want his “pro-development” image to be diluted by the so-called Hindutva fixtures.
Sources said Modi backed out probably because such a trip so soon after the BJP’s divorce with the Janata Dal (United) might have amplified the concerns raised by Nitish Kumar and affected the Gujarat leader’s attempts at an image makeover.
The Gujarat chief minister was to have visited Ayodhya on June 20 to attend the Amrit Mahotsav the VHP is organising to mark the 75th birthday of Ramjanmabhoomi Trust chairman Mahant Nrityagopal Das and his 50 years as a mahant. The June 19-22 event includes prayers and a daylong yagna.
Mahant Das, who had sent an invite to Modi on June 14, said the Gujarat chief minister called him yesterday. “He said he was busy with other engagements and wouldn’t be able to make it,” the mahant, who has been at the forefront of the temple movement, said from Ayodhya.
In Gujarat, a senior official at the chief minister’s office confirmed that Modi’s Ayodhya visit, which had not been finalised, was not on. “I can only confirm to you that tomorrow the chief minister is going to Delhi for a meeting of the Planning Commission,” the official said.
BJP officials cited the launch of two development-oriented programmes in Gujarat — a school admission drive and a girl child education drive — from June 20 to 22 in the urban areas as the reason for Modi’s inability to go to Ayodhya.
A senior BJP leader in Uttar Pradesh said Modi “seems careful” not to cause more controversies. “Besides, his first visit to Uttar Pradesh after being appointed chairman of the (BJP’s) campaign committee is being planned somewhere else. He will address a rally there sometime next month,” said the leader.
Sources in the BJP said Modi, whose rivals accuse him of not doing enough to contain the 2002 Gujarat violence, would prefer to distance himself from sensitive issues like the Ram temple construction and focus on development to counter allegations of divisive politics.
Modi and the BJP both believe that his appeal has transcended the core “Hindutva” vote base and is spreading among urban and semi-urban residents disillusioned with the UPA’s “policy paralysis”. So any overt gestures to a “Hindutva constituency” might put off this class, according to these sources.
Modi has been focusing on Uttar Pradesh, considering the state’s strategic importance for the BJP. The heartland, which the party once ruled, sends 80 MPs to the Lok Sabha.
The VHP’s move to invite Modi seemed in tune with the script. Sources said the VHP had even planned to take him to the makeshift Ram temple for prayers. “Till yesterday evening, we were under the impression that the Gujarat chief minister would come and attend the programme, which is purely religious, pray here and seek the blessings of mahants and sadhus,” VHP spokesperson Sharad Sharma said.
A source close to BJP chief Rajnath Singh, however, said Modi was concerned about his image and “wants to avoid rhetoric by frontal organisations like the VHP (that are) excited to see him as (a possible) future Prime Minister”.
Electorally, too, it makes little sense for Modi to embark on his Uttar Pradesh campaign from Ayodhya. The temple card has brought the BJP zero dividends in the past few polls. The Faizabad-Ayodhya Lok Sabha seat has since 1999 been won by the ruling Samajwadi Party and then the Congress.
Young Brahmins, Thakurs and Banias, whose parents and grandparents were dedicated BJP voters, say they are more concerned with “daal-roti” issues than the promise of a temple.
Among others likely to attend the Amrit Mahotsav are VHP president Ashok Singhal and working president Praveen Togadia.
Sources said Modi had also got feedback that some activists of a local organisation called Ayodhya Ki Awaj (Voice of Ayodhya), which has been working for peace in the holy city, were planning to launch a protest against his visit.
However, a trip to Ayodhya later is not ruled out as the RSS as well as the VHP have, at this point, thrown their weight behind Modi in his run for Prime Minister.
BJP sources said Modi could eventually combine an Ayodhya visit with a trip to another place on the calculation that the “Hindutva” focus would get a bit diffused.
|
