Is a new Ayodhya-like plan brewing in RSS back room?

In the winter of 1989, amidst the cold breeze, evening arrived early, as usual in those months of the year. I was sitting in my office at Agra when suddenly my phone rang. The Mathura Correspondent was on the line. He informed that the police roughed up some kar sevaks at the police station on the bypass road. The kar sevaks were stopped from going to Ayodhya. I instructed him to immediately visit the spot with a photographer. What the correspondent and the photographer saw took a few hours to reach me as those were pre-mobile phone days.

According to the Mathura team, a bus coming from Maharashtra, packed with kar sevaks, was heading towards Ayodhya. The police informed the correspondent that when the bus was stopped for checking, the kar sevaks started chanting slogans – Ayodhya is just a beginning, Mathura & Kashi Remain. It led to a heated argument and resulted in police using force. The Kar sevaks had a completely opposite view. On that day while covering the incident in Mathura we couldn’t foresee that one day Mathura and Kashi will become as important a focal point as Ayodhya was in 1980ss and 1990s. The Ayodhya movement was reaching a crescendo, still the majority of the people were convinced the law enforcement agencies would maintain the order. Babri Masjid, termed a disputed structure by Lal Krishna Advani, would remain safe.

Shattered veneer

On December 6, 1992, that veneer of belief was shattered forever. Even then no one imagined that within a short span of 32 years a grand temple would be erected on the same site. This was the logical culmination of a protracted legal and social battle. As the foundations of the Ram Temple were being laid questions popped up if Mathura or Kashi were still on the RSS agenda? Leaders of the RSS and the BJP shied away from offering a clear answer.

You may remember the controversy that broke out regarding the Gyanwapi Mosque adjacent to the Kashi Vishwanath Temple. The movement was gathering steam when the RSS chief, Mohan Bhagwat, gave a statement. He said there’s no need for a Ram Mandir-style movement anymore. Bhagwat also said targeting new sites and hate- mongering were unacceptable. It seemed the movement died down but last week RSS General Secretary, Dattatreya Hosabale’s comments hogging the headlines once again. He said that the RSS had no objection to their workers joining movements related to Kashi and Mathura. To add weight to his argument he referred to the Dharm Sansad organised by the Hindu Mahasabha. In 1984 the sadhus and the saints organised a religious conference called Dharm Sansad demanding the liberation of temples in Ayodhya as well as Kashi and Mathura.

Please don’t waste your time finding discrepancies and apparent tussles between various RSS leaders. The RSS desisted from openly joining the Ram Mandir Movement till the time it’s sister organisation Vishwa Hindu Parishad created a critical mass of support and momentum for it.

It would be a mistake to consider it an off-the-cuff statement by Hosable as it came just after the conclusion of Sangh’s All India Representative Meet in Bangalore. It’s clear that the RSS is unleashing its cadre while retaining the option of deniability. It would help them achieve their goal without maligning their image.

They are past masters of this strategy.

In such a situation people like Asaduddin Owaisi can pat themselves on their back. They have been airing their suspicion that the RSS wants to launch movements to regain not only the three temples (Ayodhya, Mathura and Kashi) but thousands of other disputed places too.

The RSS is in the thick of this debate. That’s the reason the day Hosable gave a statement another one, equally important, popped out of the RSS stable. Sangh senior, Bhaiyya ji Joshi, said the Aurangzeb controversy was needless and raked up unnecessarily. His grave is in Nagpur as he died in the city. Those who believe in him are free to visit the site. The Maharashtra Chief Minister, Devendra Fadanavis, echoed the same sentiments in a bid to end the fracas. It’s clear the RSS wants to move ahead one campaign at a time.

Elections aimed

Those looking at the events from a political perspective are sure to conclude that the RSS will raise the issue of Kashi and Mathura during the next Lok Sabah Elections. It’s within the realm of possibility. But will it lead to the revival of those harrowing days we witnessed between 1989 to 1992? I am not so sure. In those days Samajwadi Party supremo, Mulayam Singh, was the chief minister in Lucknow and weak Khichdi Sarkar (coalition government) was in power in New Delhi. The RSS launched the Ram Mandir campaign in a bid to pave the way for the BJP to ascend into the corridors of power. In the changed scenario they don’t need high-octane street movements.

Today New Delhi and Lucknow both are governed by saffron governments. A large-scale street protest or movement can dent their image of strong and efficient governance. The RSS has Social Media and other outlets to connect with its mass base and it could be useful to scale up the issue. People who always look everything from a political prism can claim Mathura and Kashi issues have been raised for political gains. The assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh are scheduled for February 2027 and the general elections are a distant four years away. The duration is enough for the RSS and its sister organisations.

The Sangh baiters and supporters can both claim that Kashi and Mathura have been on the RSS agenda since long. But beginning with the end in mind, creating contradictions while preparing an escape route beforehand puts RSS in a class of its own.

Shashi Shekhar is editor-in-chief, Hindustan. Views are personal.