LUCKNOW: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has conveyed unequivocally its intentions to construct the Ram temple in Ayodhya, even at the cost of sacrificing the Uttar Pradesh Government. It has also expressed its determination to take on the Center in case of a confrontation.

The mind-boggling crowd that had congregated at the venue of a rally organized by the UP unit of the BJP at Begum Hazrat Mahal Park the largest ever to be held here, according to observers was a means of displaying the party’s strength to the Center. The rally was held to commemorate the birth anniversary of the late Deendayal Upadhyaya, one of the founders of the BJP.

The meet was addressed by BJP President Murli Manohar Joshi, the MP from Luck now, Atal Behari Vajpayee, Chief Minister Kalyan Singh, and State party President Kalraj Mishra, among others.

Vajpayee’s speech set the tone and tenor of the event, He called upon both the Congress and the Opposition parties to take a clear stand on the Ayodhya dispute, and exhorted Muslims to pressure their leaders to resolve the issue by dialogue and then help the Hindus in the construction of the temple, “if the Muslims so desire, the issue can be resolved,” said Vajpayee,

He however, stated that if the Prime Minister did not find a solution by October, when the three-month deadline expires, then construction of the temple would be resumed in November, “Crores of people want the temple, and their beliefs and sentiments must be heeded.” Terming the rally as “a show of Strength which was leveled by Opposition parties that the BJPs influence was warning, and “reinforce the mass appeal that the party held.” Vajpayee said, “We were installed to power in UP not by the goodness of the Center, but by popular mandate.” a

He added that the Congress might have succeeded in decimating parties like the Telugu Desam and the Shiv Sena, but the BJP continues to pose the greatest challenge. “There was a time when the Opposition parties formed morchas (collective fronts) against the Congress. Today, it is the tum of the BJP,” claimed Vajpayee.

Denying that the BJP desired to “stretch the Ayodhya issue until the next election,” Vajpayee stressed that its importance was underscored by the fact that the contentious shrine was excluded from the purview of the Places of Worship Act.

He condemned the Pakistan Government for passing a resolution on Ayodhya in its National Assembly. “And yet our Prime Minister believes in confabulating with his Pakistani counterpart. I am not against striking a positive relationship with Pakistan, but if it continues with Pakistan, but if it continues to adopt a hard line, what is the use of all the diplomatic parleys?”

Vajpayee iterated the BJPs commitment to carving out a separate hill state of Uttaranchal and congratulated Kalyam Singh for passing a resolution.

On the recent controversy arising out of the UP Governments decision to rewrite parts of history textbooks to propagate the RSS” ideology, Vajpayee pointed out that it was this Government that had introduced an account of Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar life in the school book.

Article extracted from this publication >> October 9, 1992