Temple entry marks a new era in politics

With the Ram Temple, the BJP has a clear agenda and PM Modi's charisma to pull together a rainbow Hindu coalition. The Opposition's response is still forming

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Winter mornings in Lucknow are often forlorn. Dew-lined streets hum with the gentle patter of walkers, the occasional screech of an auto or bus shattering the calm. Yet as Suresh Kumar scampered up the road to the imposing gates of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) office one cold morning last week, things were anything but calm. Hundreds of party workers were already there, waiting to be let in. Kumar and the others shuffled into a familiar rectangular room, its walls papered with white motifs of seasonal flowers. There, they were briefed on the elaborate plan that the party had drawn up to reach out to voters in the run-up to the opening of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya. For around four hours, Kumar took notes as office bearers sketched the city out, giving each worker areas to cover on foot.

The next morning, Kumar got cracking. Leaving his house in Lucknow's cramped Aliganj area at the crack of dawn, he spent the morning with a group of 30 workers, distributing akshat (uncooked rice offered to the deity) to 600 households in the neighbourhood. An e-rickshaw carrying bagfuls of akshat followed them. A saffron scarf draped around his neck, Kumar knocked on each door, greeted the residents with the customary Jai Shri Ram and then handed them a handful of akshat grain, a photograph of the temple and a pamphlet requesting them to visit Ayodhya after the consecration ceremony.

"The response was ecstatic, many people even came out of their house to receive the invitation," said Kumar, who runs a small provisions store. "I have urged my wife to manage the store till January 22. I'll be out till late," he said. The men are on a regimen - they have to be on the road between 8am and 2pm, take a break for lunch, and then hit the pavement again between 4pm to 6pm. By nightfall, they would have spoken to 400 households, establishing a preliminary relationship that could be built on, come the general elections this summer.