New Delhi, March 8: The ongoing Ram temple issue, which the Supreme Court on Friday referred for mediation, will work in favour of the ruling BJP that seeks a return to power at the Centre in the general election.
The matter can be resolved around early May, and whichever way the discussions proceed, the procedure will keep the issue alive in memory of the electorate without much effort from the BJP.
It will apparently work to the benefit of the BJP and in case the matter is resolved, the greater will be the impact, observers believe, saying it will then become all the more difficult for its rivals to hinder the BJP’s progress. There is a possibility that the issue gets resolved in phases.
The pressure on the Muslim community will be greater while efforts are made to resolve the decades-old Ram Janmabhoomi dispute through mediation, the BJP is aware. The majority of the community wants it to be resolved, they say.
A three-member mediation committee–former Supreme Court judge, Justice FM Ibrahim Kalifulla and spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar–will meet all the petitioners at Faizabad.
The committee had been given a month, after which a report had to be submitted to the court, said the five-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi.
Even while right wing groups like the VHP were clamouring for a temple through the legislative process, including an ordinance, the BJP leadership always favoured a solution through courts.
This was reiterated on several occasions by top leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party chief Amit Shah.
