When LK Advani set out in his air-conditioned Toyota on 25 September 1990 to whip up sentiment around North India for the construction of a Ram temple at Ayodhya, he set the stage for the demolition of the Babri Masjid in 1992 and tore up communal wounds that have still not healed.

While the Ram Temple issue has been raked up ahead of almost every general election since then, there is a particular urgency this time—the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government is just reaching the fag end of its tenure and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, its tallest leader, is being criticised even by hardened right-wingers for not making any effort to build the temple. Even Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat has asked the government to bring a law on this.

Filmmaker Anand Patwardhan, whose documentary Ram Ke Naam (In The Name of God) traced Advani's rath yatra and the communal campaign that was unleashed, told HuffPost India that the Sangh Parivar has fallen back on religious polarisation—"their tried-and-tested weapon"—to hide the failures of economic policies such as demonetisation. In an email interview, Patwardhan also spoke about the role of government broadcaster Doordarshan and the TV serial Ramayan in laying the ground for the Ram temple movement.

Having followed the movement for a Ram temple from the beginning, what are your views on the current scenario, with right-wing parties getting shriller in their demands for the temple?

The Sangh Parivar (or, the Hindutva family) is not actually religious. It is a political animal in religious stripes and the same goes for all its myriad avatars — BJP, RSS, VHP, Bajrang Dal, Shiv Sena, Sanatan Sanstha, various Dharam Sansads and so on. They all wake up simultaneously as soon as the elections approach and all of them subside when the polarisation is no longer urgent. The 2014 elections were a slight departure from this. Stories of Congress corruption had been disseminated so well then, thanks to Anna Hazare and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on one hand and the RSS on the other, that Hindutva felt no need to talk much about the Ram temple and chose the plank of "development" instead to come to power.

Corruption is now an art form because newly created laws and ordinances ensure that the empowering of crony capital is no longer illegal

Today this won't wash as people, at large, are well aware that Modinomics has destroyed the Indian economy through disastrous fatwas like demonetisation that cost millions their savings and livelihood. They have also taken corruption to a whole new level — it is now an art form because newly created laws and ordinances ensure that the empowering of crony capital is no longer illegal. In this scenario, they have no choice but to hark back to their tried and tested weapon — religious polarisation and the appeal to Hindu unity i.e. the Ram temple.

Do you think there is potential for more momentum this time, considering the BJP is now in power and the VHP-RSS have begun a vehement movement?

It is my hope that they have underestimated the intelligence of the Indian public. Surely, you cannot fool all the people all the time with the same old story, despite having the electronic, print and social media largely in your hands.

Your documentary Ram Ke Naam followed Advani's Rath Yatra. Can you tell us how the stage was set for large-scale agitations back then?

In 1990, when the first assault on Babri Masjid took place, it was a relatively new story. Of course the ground was first laid by the non-stop playing of the TV serial Ramayan. BJP was not in power, but a hapless government channel Doordarshan spread pop religion in the name of "culture". Did they know that there was a design behind this? That a bow-and-arrow bearing Ramwould enter every household and every heart? From there to demanding a temple at his "birthplace" in place of a hated mosque would be an easy leap of faith.