Rajnath Singh urges patience as BJP MPs raise demand for Ram temple

BJP flags at a rally | Representational image | Bloomberg

At Parliamentary party meet, BJP MPs told to focus on SC ruling on Rafale deal and press Congress for apology on the controversy.

New Delhi: Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh urged patience as Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MPs raised the Ram temple issue at a parliamentary party meeting Tuesday, sources said.

BJP sources said that when Ravindra Kushwaha and Hari Narayan Rajbhar, Lok Sabha members from Uttar Pradesh, brought up the matter during Singh’s address, others joined in. According to two party MPs, Singh replied that it was everybody’s wish to see a Ram temple constructed in Ayodhya and asked them to be patient.

Tuesday’s meeting was held in the absence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah. While the former is in Maharashtra to inaugurate some infrastructure projects, Shah couldn’t make it because of “prior appointments”, sources said.

Many in the BJP and the larger Sangh family believe that progress on their attempts to build a Ram temple at Ayodhya will land them a second consecutive win in 2019. The title suit pertaining to the land dispute at the heart of the Ram janmabhoomi row is currently being heard by the Supreme Court.

Also in keeping with its preparations for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, PM Modi has decided to hold informal meetings with BJP MPs from each state at his residence from 20 December to 3 January, sources said.

“This informal meet will help devise the BJP’s strategy for the Lok Sabha elections,” said a senior BJP leader. “We are supposed to get a briefing on the line we need to toe ahead of elections.”

‘Ignore the confusion’

The recent Supreme Court verdict on the Rafale deal was among the other prominent orders of business at Tuesday’s meeting. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Narendra Singh Tomar is believed to have advised BJP MPs to press the Congress for an apology over its allegations of corruption against the Narendra Modi government.

In what has largely been seen as a clean chit to the BJP over allegations of corruption in the Rafale deal with France, the Supreme Court said last week that there was “no occasion to really doubt the process” involved in the decision-making.

For the BJP, which had found itself under relentless attack from the Congress over the allegations, the judgment served as a shot in the arm ahead of next year’s Lok Sabha election, where it will hope to seek re-election on its claim of heading a corruption-free government.

However, some furore ensued as the Congress alleged there was a factual inaccuracy in the judgment, pointing to para 25, which referred to a comptroller & auditor general (CAG) report on the issue that it said had been placed before Parliament’s public accounts committee (PAC).

Citing the government’s submission, the judgment also stated that a redacted version of the report had been presented to Parliament and was available in the public domain.

When PAC chair Mallikarjun Kharge, a Congress MP, said no such report had been filed before the panel and the party alleged the court had been misled, the government clarified that this part of the judgment was the result of a misinterpretation of the note it submitted in court.

At the Tuesday meeting of the BJP parliamentary party, Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad reportedly told his party MPs that the confusion over the Supreme Court order was just a diversion, and that they should focus on the judgment itself while commenting on the Rafale issue.

The Kamal Nath issue

Another subject discussed was the Congress’ chief ministerial pick for Madhya Pradesh, Kamal Nath, who has been accused by eyewitnesses of playing a role in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.

In the Lok Sabha Monday, Prem Singh Chandumajra, a member of BJP ally Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), had raised the issue after Nath was sworn in as chief minister. But the Congress had objected, saying that since the leader was not in the House and “no longer a member”, he should not be named in Parliament.

Nath, however, is yet to resign as a member of the Lok Sabha.

Asked how the BJP aimed to proceed on the issue, Tomar reportedly said the party would continue naming Nath.

“If he [Nath] has any problem with the BJP taking his name, he can come to the House anytime and put his views forward, this is what Tomar said,” said a BJP MP.

(With PTI inputs)