By Archana Sharma
Jaipur, Aug 16 (IANS): At a time when the Bansi Paharpur's pink stones from Rajasthan are being sent for the construction of the Ram Temple at Ayodhya, the political parties in the desert state also seem to be going the Lord Ram's way as the panchayat elections have been announced and the bypoll schedule for two assembly seats is also expected to be announced soon.
The two seats in Rajasthan -- namely Vallabhnagar and Dhariawad are lying vacant after the demise of sitting MLAs due to Covid-19.
Also, panchayat polls have been announced in six districts of Rajasthan -- Bharatpur, Dausa, Jaipur, Jodhpur, Sawai Madhopur and Sirohi, which will be held in three phases on August 26 and 29 and September 1 from 7.30 a.m. to 5.30 p.m.
However, even before the election schedules were announced, the crazy fight to 'follow' Ram started when the leader of opposition Gulabchand Kataria made a strong comment saying, "had the BJP been missing from the ground, Ram would have been in the sea".
Soon after, there started a series of comments when all parties jumped to claim the hall of fame for being a sincere Ram loyalist.
Minister and Congress leader Pratap Singh Khachriyawas led from the front saying, "Ram has been supreme for all. The BJP has no right to play politics in the name of Lord Ram. Court decision has been announced as it was the will of Lord Ram too. The BJP has no right to take credit in the name of Ram temple as Lord Ram is not a slave for anyone, but the world is slave to him," he added.
In a meeting called at the PCC recently to discuss the preparations for bypolls, Rajasthan Congress chief Govind Singh Dotasara said, "It is true that Lord Ram's temple is being built by the Supreme Court's direction and with the unanimous decision of the country's 130 crore people."
Sources said that Congress is working on a strategy to cash in on Kataria's statement and contest the election in the name of Ram.
Similarly, Janata Sena convener Randheer Singh Bhindar who has a strong influence in Mewar belt, also joined the debate and claimed that 'His' family is the real descendant of Lord Ram and said, "Both these parties are fighting just to show-off to stop us from spreading our wings."
"We can see the diplomatic plan behind Kataria's statement. He has deliberately raised this issue to create a ruckus in the name of Ram. Janata Sena is ready to contest the elections. This politics of BJP is not going to work now," he said.
In the last bypolls, Kataria sparked a row by his controversial remark on Maharana Pratap which left the Rajput community anguished but BJP's candidate Dipti Maheshwari won the polls. So all eyes are set on bypolls and panchayat polls to see which party shall 'Ram' be blessing as they all are claiming to be his strong followers.