For the last five years, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has avoided speaking in public about the Ram temple issue, but when he came to laxman Nagri – now lucknow – he polished off his speech with a 'Jai Shri Ram' chant giving grist to the political mill about the BJP plans to play Hindutava card in the coming Assembly polls.
Modi started his speech with 'Jai Shri Ram' and ended it with the same chant and in between talked at length about lord Rama. He even worshipped lord Rama, Sita and Hanuman and in turn was presented religious symbols like Suadarshan Chakra, Gada (mace) and bow and arrow.
When Modi ended his speech he asked people to chant 'Jai Sri Ram'. “Itni zor se naara lagaaiye ki har ghar mein awaaz jaaye,” he said specifically using the words which have a political meaning.
“The Prime Minister’s visit to lucknow was a political design. He came to lucknow to revive the Hindutava brand of politics. The way the PM chanted 'Jai Sri Ram', it was clear that the BJP wants to bring the Ram Mandir issue back on its poll agenda,” SP spokesperson Juhie Singh told 'The Pioneer' in lucknow on Thursday.
She said that the PM gave some `signals’ and now it is up to his party workers to pick them up. “I believe that Narendra Modi has given a politically-oriented speech in a religious festival which is not expected from a person who is the Prime Minister of a country,” she said.
Congress spokesman Amarnath Agarwal said that the BJP stands exposed now. "All these years, the BJP has been saying that Ram Mandir has been a cultural issue. But the way the PM worshipped lord Rama and then asked people to chant 'Jai Sri Ram' shows that the party will follow the hardcore Hindutava politics in forthcoming elections. I do not remember any PM raising such slogans from public platform," said Agarwal.
State BJP president Keshav Prasad Maurya did not see anything wrong in chanting 'Jai Sri Ram'.
"The Opposition have linked the PM’s visit to lucknow with politics just to defame the BJP. The Ram Mandir issue is sub-judice. Our leaders have gone on records in saying that Ram Mandir will be constructed either through court’s order or consensus. Ram Mandir is not a political issue for us. It was never part of our political game plan,” he stressed.