Prime Minister Narendra Modi wants to go to the people seeking a third straight term in a blaze of Ram temple glory.
The last day of the 17th Lok Sabha — a Saturday added post-haste to the current session — has been especially designated for discussions on the Ram temple, consecrated in Ayodhya on January 22, in both Houses.
The Trinamul Congress said it would not participate in the discussion.
Late on Friday evening, the government declared that a “discussion on the construction of the Ram temple” was on the agenda for Saturday. “Satyapal Singh and Shrikant Eknath Shinde to raise a discussion on the construction of historic Shri Ram temple and Pran Pratistha of Shri Ram Lalla,” the Lok Sabha’s list of business for Saturday read. A similar discussion will take place in the Rajya Sabha.
Satyapal is BJP MP from Baghpat while Shrikant is a Shiv Sena MP and son of Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde.
The discussion, to be held under Rule 193 that doesn’t entail voting, appears another effort by the BJP to catch the INDIA bloc partners, particularly the Congress, unawares and put them in a politically awkward position just before the elections.
Rarely does Parliament function on a Saturday. The government had earlier this week extended the current budget session, originally scheduled to end on Friday (February 9), by a day while keeping the agenda under wraps.
Almost all the Opposition parties had kept away from the January 22 consecration of the Ram temple, where Modi was the chief guest, calling it a BJP-RSS political project, aimed at garnering votes.
Modi is expected to participate in the discussion in the Lok Sabha, seeking to corner the Congress and other political opponents on the subject of the Ram temple.
The government is likely to push for a “unanimous resolution” to be adopted by both Houses of Parliament. It is likely to hail the construction of the Ram temple and stress the socio-cultural importance of Ram while showering praise on Modi for making the task possible.
If the Opposition parties oppose the resolution, the BJP is likely to accuse them of being “anti-Ram” and “anti-national”.
