Lucknow, Nov. 10 -- Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav's proposed visit to Ayodhya on December 12 is set to bring the temple town back into the centre of Uttar Pradesh's political discourse, with the 2027 Assembly elections less than a year away.
Akhilesh's decision to visit the Ram temple and Hanuman Garhi, accompanied by his family, is being viewed against the backdrop of the BJP's continued political emphasis on Ayodhya and the Ram temple.
The visit also comes at a time when the SP is attempting to navigate the sensitive intersection of religious identity, social justice politics and its traditional support base.
Though the SP has described the visit as a religious trip, its timing has given it a political dimension. Akhilesh is scheduled to offer prayers at the Ram temple, visit Hanuman Garhi and meet seers and saints. No political programme has been announced so far.
The visit is significant as it will be his first proposed visit to the Ram temple since its construction.
His previous visit to Ayodhya on October 8, when he attended a Shrimad Bhagwat Katha at the residence of former minister Tej Narayan Pandey alias Pawan, had triggered a political controversy.
He did not visit either the Ram temple or Hanuman Garhi during that trip, prompting BJP leaders to question his decision.
The BJP has consistently used the Ram temple and Ayodhya as important themes in its political narrative, portraying the temple's construction as the fulfilment of a long-standing cultural aspiration.
The SP, meanwhile, has had to contend with the political legacy of the 1990 police firing on kar sevaks during the Mulayam Singh Yadav government, an issue the BJP frequently invokes to target the party.
For Akhilesh, the December 12 visit also provides an opportunity to address the perception that the SP has remained distant from the religious symbolism associated with Ayodhya.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.