India's main Hindu nationalist opposition said Saturday it will construct a temple, that has been a flashpoint of tension between Hindus and Muslims for years, if the party is voted to power in the ensuing elections. Leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are meeting in the western city of Nagpur in a last major gathering before taking on the Congress party-led alliance in elections to be held in April and May. “We will build the Ram temple in Ayodhya, and we are waiting for the right opportunity,” Rajnath Singh, the party president, told about 8,000 BJP members Saturday. “No one can alter our resolve.” Singh said new laws could be formed to speed up construction of the temple, if it won the election. After winning the general elections in 1999, the BJP was forced to abandon plans of constructing the temple by its secular coalition allies. Experts said that move did not go well with its hardline supporters, and the party was now trying to woo them back before the biggest electoral exercise in the world gets underway. “They are probably beginning to believe that the temple issue can win them votes,” Kuldip Nayar, a political analyst, said. “The shift to the Ram temple issue can hurt the BJP badly.” “The Ram temple was no longer a major election issue, but it seems the party is reviving it before elections,” said A.K. Verma, a political commentator. “It could be self
