UP official's letter on rebuilding Ram temple at Ayodhya creates flutter

Lucknow, Oct 12: A communique of the UP government convening a meeting of senior police officers and the district magistrate of Faizabad to discuss the reconstruction of a Ram temple at Ayodhya on the lines of rebuilding of Somnath temple created a flutter here, even triggering speculation in political circles.

The communique issued by Satish Chandra Mishra, secretary to the state government, instructed the DGP and other senior police officers to attend a meeting convened on Monday evening in connection with the "enactment of a law in Parliament for construction of a temple at Shri Ramjanmabhoomi on the lines of the reconstruction of Somnath Mandir".

Going by the people called for the meeting, all of them police officers with the exceptions of principal secretary (home) R M Srivastava and the district magistrate of Faizabad whose jurisdiction includes Ayodhya, the purpose of the exercise seemed, on the face of it, to be related to maintenance of law and order.

However, the description of the subject, with a specific mention of the reconstruction of a temple at "Shri Ramjanmabhoomi on the lines of the reconstruction of temple at Somnath", left many intrigued.

"Shri Ramjanmabhoomi" is pretty much a Sangh Parivar term for the disputed site. The reference to Somnath also stood out as the BJP and Sangh Parivar have defended their campaign for the construction of Ram temple at Ayodhya by drawing an analogy of government's support for reconstruction of the legendary Shiv temple at Somnath after independence.

Also, VHP has for long demanded a central law to facilitate the construction of Ayodhya temple.

When contacted, principal secretary (home) Srivastava, who has to chair the meeting, sought to tamp down the speculation about the purpose of the meeting by saying it was meant only to discuss the repercussions of VHP's fresh plan to revive its temple campaign. He said that VHP has planned to observe a Sankalp Diwas where its cadre will take a fresh pledge to build the Ram temple.

Srivastava also counseled against reading meaning into the reference to reconstruction project at Somnath. The senior bureaucrat explained that VHP had organised a similar Sankalp Diwas at Somnath earlier, and this may have been the reason for the reference,

However, many remained sceptical, pointing out that seasoned officers are not expected to be casual while drafting communiques on issues as sensitive as Ayodhya.

The disbelief stems from the political backdrop where Gujarat CM Narendra Modi's projection as BJP's PM candidate is interpreted as a prelude to the revival of hardline Hindutva themes, including the construction of Ram temple, in the saffron party's campaign. Some wondered whether SP was trying to outflank the BJP by defusing a potential plank of Modi?

Others disagreed, saying that Mulayam Singh Yadav would not risk the "Maulana" standing that he acquired among Muslims by taking a tough stand against temple campaign in 1990, particularly after the SP government's handling of communal riots has been criticized. "It would have made sense to us if you had said that the meeting had been called to reconstruct the mosque," said a senior SP leader when asked about the letter.

The officials who have been asked to attend the meeting to be held at the principal secretary's office at annexe, include DGP, ADG (law and order), ADG (Intelligence), IG (law and order), IG (railways), IG (Lucknow Zone), DM and SSP, Faizabad.