SHOULD RAM TEMPLE BE ALLOWED TO BE BUILT ON DISPUTED SITE IN AYODHYA?

Virtually launching the campaign for the Lok Sabha elections, Congress president Sonia Gandhi today accused the BJP-led NDA of causing "grave damage" to the country's secular fabric and economy and said the saffron party was "misleading" people in the name of Lord Rama.
Addressing party's district and block-level office-bearers in New Delhi, she charged BJP with trying to make political capital out of terrorism and said "those who mobilise people on religious lines, mislead people in the name of Ram cannot become an effective force against terror."
Gandhi's attack on BJP for using the name of Lord Rama comes a day after the saffron party chief Rajnath Singh again raked up the issue of building Ram temple in Ayodhya, apparently with an eye on the elections.
Accusing BJP of conducting "divisive politics", she said, "Grave damage has been done to our secular polity, society and economy by BJP-led NDA. Theirs is a voice of polarisation, of division, of hatred." The Congress, on the other hand, "is a voice of social justice, communal harmony and inclusiveness," she said. Seeking to blunt BJP's allegation that the Congress is soft on terror, Gandhi said "a party which has lost two of its popular leaders to terrorism does not need a certificate from others".
At the same time, the UPA chairperson issued a veiled warning to Pakistan, saying those abetting terrorism in India from across the borders will be given a "befitting reply" and they should not construe New Delhi's "restraint" as weakness.
Describing terrorism as one of the major challenges, Gandhi said, "The recent barbaric terror attacks of Mumbai and Assam remind us of the pain we are going through. But we have no doubt that we will overcome this difficult situation."
She asserted that the UPA government will tackle the problem of terrorism "without any discrimination," apparently responding to BJP's allegation that Congress was appeasing the minorities. In this fight, she said the UPA government drew inspiration from late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
Alleging that BJP-led NDA was trying to make political capital out of the issue of terrorism, she said "the opposition created hurdles in Parliamentary functioning and also caused undue delay in passing of the anti-terror law."
She, however, said the Congress did not take any "political advantage" of the terrorism issue when it was in opposition.
The Congress president also accused the BJP-led NDA of playing communal politics.
Gandhi said Congress was the only party which believes that communal harmony and economic development were two sides of the same coin.
Seeking a fresh mandate for the UPA on the basis of "our solid and substantial accomplishments", the Congress president said BJP-NDA speaks for the "privileged few" while the Congress was the voice of the multitude and the aam aadmi (common man)".
She insisted that the government had fulfilled most of the promises made in the Common Minimum Programme and in this regard listed the programmes undertaken for the benefit of minorities, farmers, women, socially and economically downtrodden and others during the last four years.
She highlighted the Indo-US civil nuclear deal, which led to end of the country's isolation in the field, as one of the major achievements of the Manmohan Singh government and said it would benefit even the rural areas of the country.
Referring to the global financial crisis, Gandhi said while the world was going through the economic recession, India is "demonstrating resilience" because of the policies of previous and present Congress government's policies.
But "There is no room for complacency," she said.