With a “Dharma Sabha” organised by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and the Shiv Sena in Ayodhya, the city has seen an influx of innumerable Hindu activists and devotees, all gathered to demand the construction of Ram Mandir. But the city’s residents are concerned not with the decades-old disputed raked up every election season, but with the real problems affecting their everyday lives.
Speaking to people in the city, NewsCentral24x7 correspondent Deepak Kumar tried to determine whether or not the people of Ayodhya care as much about the Ram Mandir as Hindu leaders across the nation like to portray, and what issues continue to remain unsolved and ignored in the din of “Mandir Wahin Banayenge”.
Ram Kumar, an ordinary citizen said that the locals do not care for Mandirs and Masjids, especially when unemployment is rampant in the city. “Educated, grown-up boys sit idle because there are no jobs,” he tells NewsCentral24x7. “The MLAs and MPs visit us once every five years. They touch our feet and ask for votes and then vanish,” he adds.
Nand Kishore, a driver who does not have fixed employment, also laments the lack of jobs in Ayodhya. “There are no factories here…All my children have graduated from college, yet none of them have jobs. The Centre has no schemes for us. We haven’t seen vikas.” He says that most people in the city, who work as daily wage labourers, don’t find any work on some days.
Aashiq Ali, a Nagar Nigam supervisor pointed out that the Hindu-muslims live in harmony but tensions created by outsiders harm every lives. “If a rumour is spread, streets become deserted. Shopkeepers suffer because trade gets affected. You can see for yourself, shops are open, but people are not able to come.” He added that because an incident has occurred on December 6, 1992, people get scared.
The locals also added that Muslim families in the city feel fear, especially after what happened in 1992. “The women leave and only the men remain… Men are arriving from outside, there is fear hence they left,” Said Mohammed Moin, addressing the rising communal tensions caused by the “Dharma Sabha”. He also said that issues like mandir-masjid are not on people’s mind when they vote.