Courtesy: Daily News and Analysis (MB)
  
Ayodhya, Apr 19: From April 24 this year, the stone-cutters, hammers, and chisels will fall silent at the karyashala (workshop) where the Ram temple is being prefabricated, pillar by pillar. After nearly two decades of intense activity, the temple’s mentors seem to have lost heart, and doubt if their mission will succeed, at least in the near future.

The last supply of stone blocks from Rajasthan came several weeks ago, but the order for replenishments was never placed. All but four of the 250 craftsmen have been sent home. They too will leave when the gates are formally locked on the 24th of this month. There is almost a desolate air about a place that is on the must-see list of every pilgrim who visits Ayodhya.

“We’ve given up hope of constructing the temple at its rightful spot,” said KN Pandey, the karyashala’s pujari. “So we’ve decided to shut down the workshop. In any case, nearly 70 per cent of our work is complete. Now we will just wait till the time is right to build the temple in its full glory.”

Champat Rai, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad’s joint general secretary in charge of Ayodhya, said it would be erroneous to say that work has been stopped. “The carving of stones, which started 18 years ago, is almost complete,” Rai said. “Only 30 per cent of the work remains to be done.”

Rai said the security and proper care of the carved stones are the primary concerns at the moment.

“The movement for construction of a grand Ram temple is not that of the VHP alone but of over 100 crore Hindus across the world,” he said.

The impending closure of the karyashala is symbolic of the waning faith of even staunch BJP supporters in the political fortunes of a party that is indelibly identified with the temple issue. But surprisingly, loyalists are unperturbed about putting the temple on the backburner. “We know that the temple will be built only when the BJP comes to power on its own, both in Lucknow and at the Centre,” said Dinesh Sahi, owner of a restaurant in Ayodhya and a BJP supporter. “We also know that this is not going to happen in the near future. We will just have to wait till then.”

Shyam Nandan Singh, an RSS worker who has been drafted to help the BJP with its election campaign, confirmed that the workshop has been shut down for the time being. But he maintained that that was so because most of the work is over. “All that is left is to join the pillars and that can only happen when the temple is finally built,” Singh said. “That day will come, but we have to wait for it.”

Pandey, however, was bitter about the closure. Lashing out at the BJP for failing to live up to its promise on the temple, the pujari said the energy went out of the movement with the death of Paramhans Ramchandra Das.

Das, who was president of the Ramjanambhoomi Nyas, had spearheaded the campaign to open the Babri Masjid in 1986 to allow worship at the site that is believed to be Ram’s birthplace. “Without him, there is no one to push the temple,” Pandey said. “These politicians pick up the issue at election time and then forget about it once the polls are over. That is why we’ve lost hope.”

Interestingly, the BJP has omitted the temple promise from its manifesto in these elections, virtually acknowledging the fading of the issue from the political landscape in Uttar Pradesh. It has been left to Pandey to keep the flame burning, which he does assiduously with a daily puja at the karyashala.