This story is from October 19, 2018

Bhagwat steals a march over Sena by taking hard line on Ayodhya row

Bhagwat steals a march over Sena by taking hard line on Ayodhya row
Uddhav Thackeray with the RSS chief
MUMBAI: RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat might just have stolen a march over the Shiv Sena on the morning of Dussehra by demanding an ordinance for construction of the Ram temple.
The Sena had hoped to ratchet up pressure on the Modi government at its annual Dussehra rally in the evening, with Uddhav Thackeray not only pushing for an ordinance in front of a vociferous crowd of Sainiks but also announcing dates for his Ayodhya visit next month.

But Bhagwat's 'pre-emptive' verbal strike might have come as a dampener for the BJP ally which was hoping to make a major splash at its rally with pronouncements on the mandir issue. The pronouncements were indeed made, even indicating the Sena desired to go beyond the call for an ordinance, but by then Bhagwat (whom Uddhav complimented in his speech) had spoken first, drawn nationwide attention and triggered a political debate.
While Sena, BJP's partner in the Central and state government, has repeatedly said the Modi government should immediately start temple construction, it upped the ante early this month when Uddhav met chief of the Ram Janmabhoomi Trust Janmejay Sharanji Maharaj in Mumbai. Following the meeting, the Sena said its president would go to Ayodhya.
Four days later, Sena leader Sanjay Raut, while felicitating Sanatan Sanstha lawyer Sanjeev Punalekar, appealed to Hindus to "join Sena in Ayodhya for constructing the mandir". Raut called for an ordinance, saying the temple issue was "not legal to be sorted in courts but political and religious" and asked why the government was delaying building the mandir when the PM, Uttar Pradesh CM, President and UP governor were "all of BJP".

The Sena, to widen its vote base either to go solo or bargain better with BJP for the 2019 polls, has been wooing fringe groups and elements within and outside the Sangh Parivar by espousing the cause of militant Hindutva. In the run-up to its Dassera rally, Sena put up hoardings in various parts of Mumbai with 'Jai Shri Ram' and 'Chalo Ayodhya' written on them alongside a picture of Lord Ram as a warrior - a sight not seen since 1993. Its mouthpiece Saamna said on its front page on Dassera that "all eyes were on Ayodhya as Uddhav Thackeray was set to put the mandir's first bricks in place".
"Prabhu Shri Ram is still in exile... This is an insult to those who lost their lives for Hindutva on the Sharayu's banks (for the temple)," Saamna said in its editorial, adding that people wanted temple construction to start before 2019, and it was to "remind those who'd come to power in the name of Ram about Ram Naam" that Uddhav was headed to Ayodhya.
Bhagwat's statements, designed to strike a chord across the Parivar could, however, puncture Sena's claims that it was the party to which believers in militant Hindutva could gravitate as BJP had "let them down." With the Parivar head himself posing questions and taking a line that fringe groups won't baulk at, Sena might again be forced to look for a USP.
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