Veteran journalist Ram Dutt Tripathi, who has worked for the BBC, says in this long interview with senior journalist Arun Sinha that it is the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh which directly and indirectly controls the Ram temple at Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh. Tripathi quotes insiders who state that the RSS had a dream of turning Ayodhya into a Vatican for Hindus.
The leaders of the RSS, the ideological parent of the BJP, have always emphasized the central importance of the Ram temple for their Hindu rejuvenation project. Both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat have repeatedly described the Ram temple as much more than a place of worship. In their speeches, they portray it as a symbol of India's civilisational identity, national consciousness, and cultural resurgence.
Here are some of their most significant statements.
At the Pran Pratishtha (consecration) ceremony on 22 January 2024, Modi said: "This is not merely a temple of God. This is a temple of national consciousness in the form of Ram." He went on to describe Ram as embodying India's civilisational identity: "Lord Ram is India's faith, foundation, idea, law, consciousness, thinking, prestige and glory." This is perhaps the clearest statement equating the Ram Temple with the nation's civilisational consciousness rather than only religious devotion.
In the same speech, Modi coined the phrase: "Dev se Desh, Ram se Rashtra” (From God to Country, from Ram to the Nation. He argued that the temple should inspire national development and transform devotion into nation-building.
The Prime Minister also declared: “The 22nd of January 2024 is not merely a date on the calendar. It is the origin of a new kaal chakra (cycle of time)." He described the consecration as the beginning of a new historical era after “centuries of patience, sacrifice and penance.”
On the eve of the consecration, RSS Sarsangchalak (head) Mohan Bhagwat wrote: “The Pran Pratishtha of Shri Ram Lalla is the beginning of the reconstruction of Bharatvarsha (India)." He urged that the event be treated as the starting point of national reconstruction rather than the culmination of the Ram Janmabhoomi movement.
Journalist Tripathi argued that the Ram temple should be freed from the clutches of the RSS. He added that infighting among the Hindus at Ayodhya on the issue of theft of donations would not help the BJP in the run-up to the forthcoming elections to the Uttar Pradesh legislative assembly.
