The Ram temple in Ayodhya, which is going to be consecrated on January 22, is being built after the demolition of a mosque at the same place, in the name of a Hindu deity who is described as the epitome of virtues. The act of demolition, described by a Supreme Court as criminal, was carried out by political organisations who believe in Hindutva. The land was given to them by the same Supreme Court for building a temple. Yet again political organisations have taken over and want to take credit for the consecration ceremony. The role of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as a political organisation is understandable but the ruling party has involved the entire government paraphernalia in this process. The money being spent to make it a special event is sheer madness.Since when did it become the government’s job to build temples, especially in a country which abides by a secular constitution? The prime minister is going around as the chief priest of the country. It is said that God created humans. But consider the arrogance of Brahminical Hindu religion, probably the only such religion on earth, which believes it can infuse life into a God’s statue.1. Last year UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath lit 22.23 lakh earthen lamps in Ayodhya during ‘Deepotsav’, something started by him after he assumed the post. He even bettered his own record of lighting 17 lakh lamps in the Guinness Book of World Records the year before. The colossal wastage makes a mockery of the poor, a large chunk of whom are in his state, who come the next morning to collect unburnt mustard oil from these lamps to use for cooking. What is being achieved by burning these lamps? Why should the government be obsessed with world records, especially when the previous record is also in its name? If this is not insanity then what is?2. Adityanath also paid professional models to dress up as Ram, Laxman, and Sita and provided them with a government helicopter to recreate the scene of Ram’s return from Lanka. Is this not a misuse of government assets? All this when the life of people has been made difficult by the government.Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath. Photo: Facebook/MYogiAdityanath3. Convicts in the Bilkis Bano case, released by the Gujarat government, have been ordered to be put back in jail by the Supreme Court. But nobody knows whether they’ll actually go to jail before the general elections due this year. The female wrestlers protesting against sexual harassment by BJP MP Brij Bhushan Singh still haven’t received justice. In fact, he continues to maintain a stranglehold over the wrestling administration in India. Two male wrestlers have also returned their medals and awards in a strong rebuke to the government. Ajay Mishra Teni, who instigated his son to drive his vehicle over farmers in Lakhimpur Kheri, killing four of them and a journalist, still continues to be a minister in the home department. While the families of the deceased await justice, the minister’s son roams free.4. Street vendors’ carts from the Lanka market outside Banaras Hindu University have been confiscated by the Municipal Corporation and, unlike previous occasions, will not release them without police permission. Requests to the police commissioner have gone unheard. This, despite a 2014 street vendor’s law which makes it illegal for the police and municipal corporation employees to remove street vendors without their rehabilitation.5. In Uttar Pradesh’s Ramnagar, in spite of stay orders from the court, houses were demolished in a road widening exercise. The circle rates in Varanasi district have not been updated since 2019 so when land is acquired from farmers in Pindra for the Kashi Dwar project, farmers will not get fair compensation. In Azamgarh, farmers from eight villages have been opposing a proposed international airport project questioning its need when there is one just two hours away in Varanasi. The farmers are, in general, unhappy with the land acquisition process.Also read: Little Known About Mughal-Era ‘Mosque’ in UP Where Muslim Youth Was Booked for Offering Azaan6. The farmers in Hardoi, Unnao, Sitapur and most of U.P. have to keep awake all night to save their crops from stray cattle. The government claims to provide Rs. 50 per cattle per day to feed them but doesn’t have any dedicated budget to build cow sheds. Hence, most gram pradhans, like the one from Gram Sabha Mahua Danda in Hardoi District try to shirk their responsibility. In this case, the local Sandila MLA, belonging to his own caste, is supporting him against the directives of the chief secretary to put all stray cattle in cow sheds and gaushalas. Meanwhile, farmers suffer and some have even given up agriculture as the UP government has made it illegal to fence their fields with bladed wires.7. The BJP government has also come up with an ingenious way of avoiding increase in Urea fertiliser’s rates. They have simply reduced the quantity of Urea in a bag from 50 kg to 40 kg, in two instalments, without changing the price.8. The Gram Sabha of Aseni in Barabanki passed a resolution against liquor shops in the village in 2021. However, district officials said it was a matter of state policy and lathi-charged a demonstration demanding their closure. Under Adityanath’s rule, foreign liquor shops are doing brisk business. However, liquor shops have been ordered shut only for January 22, exposing the hypocrisy of the BJP government.9. All contractual employees like para-teachers are agitating against the government for regularisation of their jobs or at least an increase in their modest honoraria. Just before the last assembly election in UP in 2022, an aspirant for a government teaching post, Shikha Pal, sat atop a water tank at the education directorate for about half a year protesting against the government’s recruitment policy.10. Additionally, Rs 10 postal orders, which are required to file an application under the Right to Information Act, have disappeared from post offices across UP – Lucknow, Kanpur, Barabanki, Moradabad and Varanasi – so that people cannot hold the government accountable by asking uncomfortable questions. This is symbolic of suppression of all dissent in BJP rule.It is clear that Ram temple in Ayodhya is not going to bring Ram Rajya in UP or the rest of the country. At best, it’ll help ensure a political victory for the BJP in the next Lok Sabha elections and that is the reason the consecration is happening even before the construction is complete.It is not a religious temple. It is a political temple. It is a project of the Hindutva organisations which has succeeded because of BJP’s power. Some of the opposition parties are unsure how to respond to the invitation for the consecration. They should outrightly reject it as it is a BJP and Narendra Modi event.They must keep in mind that Hindutva organisations have nothing to do with the Hindu religion. No senior Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, Jan Sangh, Vishwa Hindu Parishad or BJP leader has ever written a book on Hindu religion like Mahatma Gandhi, Vinoba Bhave, Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan, Aurobindo Ghosh, etc, have done. Hence, there is no need to feel guilty about not being part of the consecration ceremony. Similarly, the voters need to distinguish between Hindu religion and the politics of Hindutva.Sandeep Pandey is the General Secretary of Socialist Party (India).