UP Civic Election: BJP rides Ram Mandir wave, wait for 2019 typhoon, Subramanian Swamy tweets

"UP local bodies elections BJP rides the Ram Mandir wave. Wait for the typhoon in 2019," tweeted Swamy from his verified handle, @Swamy39, with nearly six million followers.

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BJP MP Subramanian Swamy (File photo: PTI)
BJP MP Subramanian Swamy (File photo: PTI)

Just as the first leads showed the ruling BJP making early gains in the Uttar Pradesh civic election, party's Rajya Sabha MP Subramanian Swamy tweeted that the BJP is riding the Ram temple wave, which will culminate with a typhoon in 2019, when the Lok Sabha elections will be held.

"UP local bodies elections BJP rides the Ram Mandir wave. Wait for the typhoon in 2019," tweeted Swamy from his verified handle, @Swamy39, with nearly six million followers.

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"I give as good as I get," reads his Twitter bio.

BJP RAISES PITCH FOR RAM MANDIR

Ever since it came to power at the Centre in 2014, the BJP and its affiliates within what is known as the Sangh Parivar have been consistently raising the pitch for a Ram temple in Ayodhya, where a Mughal-era mosque was demolished by a Hindu mob on December 6, 1992.

The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), which heads the Sangh, and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) claim the Babri mosque was built after destroying an original Ram temple. After it was demolished, the VHP raised a makeshift Ram temple there, saying it was where Lord Ram was born.

Last week, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat raised the pitch for a grand Ram temple in Ayodhya, saying it will be constructed only at the disputed site and "nothing else" will be built there.

"The Ram temple will be constructed at the site of Ramjanmabhoomi and nothing else will be built. It will be constructed and that too in its original form and with the same stones. It will be built under the leadership of those who led this movement and have been holding its flag for 20-25 years," he said at a three-day 'Dharam Sansad' of the VHP in Udupi.

It was for the first time that an RSS chief had spoken so vehemently on the Ram temple issue in a public address. So far, the clamour for a temple in Ayodhya was largely a BJP and VHP plank.

Next week, the Supreme Court will begin the final hearing on the cross-appeals filed against a 2010 judgement of the Allahabad High Court in the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid title dispute. The high court had ruled a three-way division of the disputed 2.77 acre area at Ayodhya among the parties - the Sunni Waqf Board, the Nirmohi Akhara, and the Ram Lalla.

However, in the run-up to the high-stakes Gujarat election, the Ram temple issue will continue to dominate headlines for now.

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