Key Ram Temple Ceremony Took Place During Rajiv Gandhi's Tenure, Says Sharad Pawar

The 'Shilanyas' for a Ram temple in Ayodhya were conducted when Rajiv Gandhi was the country's prime minister, and the BJP and RSS are playing politics on the issue, NCP chief Sharad Pawar said.

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar brought attention to the past, stating that the 'shilanyas' (laying of the first stone) for the Ram temple in Ayodhya occurred during the tenure of late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.

Speaking at a public meeting in Karnataka's Nipani, Pawar remarked, "The shilanyas was conducted during Rajiv Gandhi's tenure, but today the BJP and RSS are doing politics in the name of Lord Ram," as reported by PTI on Tuesday. 

Addressing Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 11-day fast before the consecration ceremony, Pawar expressed, "I respect his faith in Ram, but had he decided to observe a fast to eliminate poverty, people would have appreciated it".

Rajiv Gandhi's government, in 1985, decided to open the locks of the Babri Masjid, a move perceived by many as Congress's attempt to balance communal equations following the Supreme Court's overruling of the Shah Bano verdict during that time.

On November 9, 1989, leaders of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad were permitted to lay the foundation stone of the Ram temple in Ayodhya. A report by Hindustan Times noted that then Union Home Minister Buta Singh and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Narain Dutt Tiwari held closed-door meetings with VHP leaders before the Rajiv Gandhi government granted approval for the ceremony.

However, this move did not prove beneficial for the Congress, as the VHP intensified the Ram temple movement. In 1990, the BJP, led by Lal Krishna Advani, initiated a Rath Yatra from Somnath in Gujarat to build the temple in Ayodhya. Although Advani's campaign was halted by his arrest in Bihar under the orders of then Chief Minister Lalu Prasad, the Ram Janmabhoomi movement contributed significantly to the BJP's electoral success. The party's seat tally in the Lok Sabha surged from two in 1984 to 85 in 1989 and then to 120 in 1991.

In 2019, the Supreme Court paved the way for the construction of the Ram temple on 2.77 acres of land in Ayodhya where the Babri mosque stood until December 6, 1992. Prime Minister Narendra Modi performed the 'bhumi pujan' of the newly constructed temple on August 5, 2020.

Having accompanied Advani during the Rath Yatra in 1990, Modi is set to preside over the consecration ceremony of the temple on January 22.