New Delhi: Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and Union minister Uma Bharti announced Tuesday she will not contest the Lok Sabha election next year and will concentrate on the issues of Ram Temple in Uttar Pradesh’s Ayodhya and cleanliness of the river Ganga for the next one-and-half years.
Her announcement in Bhopal comes at a time when there is increasing demand from Hindu organisations to find a legislative solution to the Ram temple issue. Bharti was one of the most visible faces of the Ram temple movement.
The former Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh had said last week that her party does not have a patent on the Ram temple while calling for all parties to come together to build the temple in Ayodhya.
Hindu groups, including the BJP’s ideological mentor Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, have called for a law or an ordinance to facilitate the building of a temple at the disputed site. The RSS has also threatened a 1992-like campaign for its construction.
A section of Hindus believes the 16th-century mosque, Babri Masjid, was built over a temple dedicated to Ram, whose birthplace is also considered to be at the site. The mosque was demolished by a mob of thousands in 1992, triggering a cycle of violence and riots across India.
