Lallu Singh Chauhan, the local MLA, built his vote bank on the bricks and stones brought to Ayodhya to construct the Ram temple. He is not the only one. The BJP also played the temple card to the hilt in its rise to power.

The bricks have now been consigned to the backburner and the work of constructing the Ram temple in a special workshop set up by the VHP has almost come to a standstill. From 50 workers cutting and chiselling stones for a grand temple, the number today is five. The gargantuan stone cutter too is silent.

This time round, the temple is not an election issue and Chauhan, the sitting BJP MLA, is campaigning for development instead. Ironically, he and the local unit of the party have already requested the high command not to send Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi to Ayodhya, lest it cuts into the Muslim votes Chauhan commands here. Homegrown Hindutva propagator Vinay Katiyar too has been silent on the issue.

“The work is on,” insists Siddhnath, an electrical supervisor at the workshop, “But some workers have gone home to attend marriages in the family.” He has no idea when they will return. “The matter (the Ayodhya dispute) has not yet been sorted, so the work has been deliberately kept slow. All workers will be here once the go-ahead comes. The first floor of the temple has already been constructed,” he adds.

The superintendent of the workshop, Annubhai Sompura, has also gone home to Gujarat for a marriage in the family. And when is he coming back? “Theek se pataa nahin hain, return ticket nahi liya hain (I don’t know properly, but he has not booked return tickets)”, says Ram Bahadur, another worker, who belongs to Basti district.

... contd.