In the winter of 1989, a cold breeze blew as the evening arrived early -- usual for those months. I was sitting in my office in Agra when the phone rang. The Mathura Correspondent was on the line. He informed us that the police had roughed up some kar sevaks at the police station on the bypass road. The kar sevaks had been stopped from going to Ayodhya. I instructed him to immediately visit the spot with a photographer. What the correspondent and the photographer saw took a few hours to reach me as those were pre-mobile phone days.

In the winter of 1989, a cold breeze blew as the evening arrived early -- usual for those months. I was sitting in my office in Agra when the phone rang. The Mathura Correspondent was on the line. He informed us that the police had roughed up some kar sevaks at the police station on the bypass road. The kar sevaks had been stopped from going to Ayodhya. I instructed him to immediately visit the spot with a photographer. What the correspondent and the photographer saw took a few hours to reach me as those were pre-mobile phone days.

According to the Mathura team, a bus from Maharashtra packed with kar sevaks was heading towards Ayodhya. The police informed the correspondent that when the bus was stopped for checking, the kar sevaks started chanting the slogan “Ayodhya is just the beginning, Mathura and Kashi remain”. It led to a heated argument, resulting in the police using force. The kar sevaks had a completely opposite view. While covering the incident in Mathura, we couldn’t foresee that, one day, Mathura and Kashi would become as important focal points as Ayodhya was in 1980s and 1990s. The Ayodhya movement was reaching a crescendo, but most people were convinced that the law enforcement agencies would be able to maintain order. Babri Masjid, termed a disputed structure by Lal Krishna Advani, would remain safe.

On December 6, 1992, that veneer of belief lay in tatters. Even then, no one had imagined that within a short span of 32 years, a grand temple would be erected on the same site. This was the logical culmination of a protracted legal and social battle. As the foundations of the Ram Temple were being laid, questions popped up as to whether Mathura or Kashi were still on the RSS agenda. Leaders of the RSS and the BJP shied away from offering a clear answer.

You may remember the controversy that broke out regarding the Gyanvapi mosque adjacent to the Kashi Vishwanath temple. The movement was gathering steam when the RSS chief, Mohan Bhagwat, said there was no need for Ram Mandir-style movements anymore. Bhagwat also said that targeting new sites and hate-mongering were unacceptable. It seemed that the movement died down, but last week, RSS general secretary Dattatreya Hosabale’s comments hogged the headlines once again. He said that the RSS had no objection to their workers joining movements related to Kashi and Mathura. To add weight to his argument, he referred to the Dharm Sansad organised by the Hindu Mahasabha. In 1984, the sadhus organised a religious conference called Dharm Sansad demanding the liberation of temples in Ayodhya as well as Kashi and Mathura.

Please don’t waste time finding discrepancies and apparent tussles between various RSS leaders. The RSS desisted from openly joining the Ram Mandir Movement until its sister organisation, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, created a critical mass of support and momentum for it.

It would be a mistake to consider Hosabale’s statement as an off-the-cuff remark, given that it came just after the conclusion of the Sangh’s All India Representative Meet in Bengaluru. It is clear that the RSS is unleashing its cadre while retaining the option of deniability. It would help them achieve their goal without maligning their image. They are past masters of this strategy.

In such a situation, people like Asaduddin Owaisi can pat themselves on their back. They have been airing their suspicions that the RSS wants to launch movements to regain not only the three temples (Ayodhya, Mathura, and Kashi) but thousands of other disputed places too.

The RSS is in the thick of this debate. That’s why the day Hosable made the statement, another equally important one popped out of the RSS stable. Sangh senior, Suresh ‘Bhaiyyaji’ Joshi, said the controversy over Aurangzeb — against the backdrop of the recent riots in Nagpur over the demand to shift out the much-reviled Mughal emperor’s grave — was needless and had been raked up unnecessarily. He further said that Aurangzeb’s grave was in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar because he died there; those who believe in him are free to visit the site. Maharashtra chief minister (CM) Devendra Fadanavis echoed Joshi’s sentiments in a bid to end the controversy. It is clear the RSS wants to move ahead one campaign at a time.

Those looking at the events from a political perspective are sure to conclude that the RSS will raise the issue of Kashi and Mathura during the next Lok Sabha elections. It is within the realm of possibility. But will it lead to a revival of those harrowing days we witnessed between 1989 and 1992? I am not so sure. Those days, former Samajwadi Party supremo, Mulayam Singh Yadav, was the Uttar Pradesh CM, and a weak coalition government was in power in New Delhi. The RSS launched the Ram Mandir campaign in a bid to pave the way for the BJP to ascend to the corridors of power. In the changed scenario, they don’t need high-octane street movements.

Today, New Delhi and Lucknow both have the saffron party in power. A large-scale street protest or movement can dent their image of strong and efficient governance. The RSS has social and other media to connect with its base and scale up the issue. People who look at everything from a political prism can claim that “Kashi, Mathura” has been raised for political gains. The assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh are scheduled for February 2027 and the general elections are a distant four years away. The duration is enough for the RSS and its sister organisations.

Sangh baiters and supporters can both claim that Kashi and Mathura have been on the RSS agenda for a long time now. But beginning with the end in mind, creating contradictions while preparing an escape route beforehand, puts the RSS in a class of its own.

Shashi Shekhar is editor-in-chief, Hindustan. The views expressed are personal