The Ayodhya issue needs to be looked at also from the angle of the continuing power struggle in the Bharatiya Janata Party, with the Parivar hard-liners bent on forcing Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to throw in the towel before completion of his current term. Even though Party President Venkaiah Naidu was forced to retract his "vikas purush-loh purush" statement intended to project his mentor L. K. Advani as the next leader, the parivar constituents are doing everything possible to frustrate Vajpayee’s moves to resolve the Ram temple issue amicably.

Even before the All India Muslim Personal Law Board had formally rejected the Kanchi Shankaracharya’s latest formula, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, VHP, Bajrang Dal and other organisations had left no stone unturned to ensure that the move floated with the Prime Minister’s blessings was scuttled so that he would not be able to claim credit for a major breakthrough. Without directly attacking Vajpayee, the RSS made it clear that the status of the Ayodhya, Kashi and Mathura temples was not negotiable and that the Muslims should take note of the sentiments of the Hindu majority and relinquish their claim to the three sites. It also supported the VHP’s demand for legislation to allow temple construction to start immediately. The VHP, which has articulated extremist views on this subject, continues to demand the Prime Minister’s resignation for his failure to keep the promise to build a Ram temple at Ayodhya.

The BJP now finds itself on the horns of a dilemma. Its urgent problem is that it rode to power on the Ayodhya tiger and finds it risky now to dismount.

The RSS is not ready for an immediate change of leadership despite many shortcomings in the government’s performance and big question marks having been raised about its Pakistan and China policies. Vajpayee alone has the capability of keeping the NDA together because of his wide acceptability which Advani lacks.

The BJP does not have the remotest chance of securing a majority on its own at the next elections and, therefore, its temple and other agendas shall remain on permanent hold. It has to depend on the NDA to return to power.

The reaction of the Muslim Personal Law Board to the Shankaracharya’s proposal was on expected lines. It saw the seer’s clarification as "thinly veiled threats" to Muslims to submit and surrender themselves unconditionally to all the unreasonable demands made by the Sangh Parivar.

A section of the BJP leadership is disinclined to accept the parivar’s argument that the Centre legislate to hand over the disputed and undisputed land to the Ram Janmabhoomi Nyas for temple construction. If the Government fails to get such a bill passed it should resign, dissolve the Lok Sabha and go for fresh elections, making Ayodhya the central issue. The VHP and the RSS do not believe in give-and-take and for them the word "negotiations" connotes only one thing: that the Muslims hand over the Ayodhya, Kashi and Mathura sites to the Hindus for temple construction as a unilateral gesture of goodwill.For tactical reasons, the BJP projects itself as opposed to the RSS-VHP line and pursuing a "nationalist" line. The Government’s failure to deliver on its promises to give a corruption-free administration and accelerate the pace of development are being raised by the opposition parties.

The BJP has now decided to stress on announcing development packages for targeted sections including the poor, farmers, the unemployed youth and those living in the backward areas. But having lost four long years, there is little time left now to make a visible impact on the people. While the BJP projects itself as pursuing a moderate line, it sees continued benefit in the parivar outfits pursuing the extremist course.

Vajpayee has been singled out for attack for not showing enough seriousness about implementing the temple agenda, while Advani is praised for his devotion to the Hindu cause and for having taken out a Ayodhya rath yatra before the last election.

Questions are asked whether the sabre-rattling between the BJP and the rest of the Sangh Parivar will debilitate the BJP to an extent that its chances at the next elections are adversely affected. It does not seem so. Two parallel strategies are working together. The BJP insists that the constraints of NDA politics prevents it from implementing its own agenda. The rest of the parivar takes the line that the BJP must be given a clear mandate to govern to be in a position to redeem its pledges, including that on the Ram temple. Both reinforce one another. However, a section of the BJP leadership is against putting all the Ayodhya eggs in one basket and isolating the RSS, VHP and other outfits in any manner.

The BJP cannot do without the active support of the RSS, VHP and other outfits to stay alive and in government.