Ayodhya: Congress dilemma and the political cost

Congress’ temple invitation decline has triggered a political outrage and has not gone down well with a large section of Hindu majority people

The pran pratishtha (consecration ceremony) of the Ram Temple is scheduled for January 22 and both the Samajwadi Party (SP) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) have responded to the function invite in consonance with the religious sentiments of their core vote bank, Yadavs and Dalits.

The consecration ceremony of the Ram Temple is scheduled for January 22 and Congress have declined the invitation. (Representative file photo)

SP national president Akhilesh Yadav expressed gratitude for the invitation adding that he will visit the temple along with his family as devotees while BSP national president Mayawati stressed on the fact that her party respects all religions, and she is yet to take a call on attending the event subject to her prior engagements.

Congress on the other hand, turned down the invitation for the ceremony accusing the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of turning it into a political event for electoral gains.

Congress has remained in a consistent dilemma since the 1949 installation of Lord Rama in the disputes shrine which was reflected in three major decisions that proved pivotal.

One of its three core voters which included Muslims, started deserting the party after the 1986 unlocking of the shrine’s gate. The exodus picked up steam after the 1989 shilanayas of temple and the 1992 demolition of the disputed shrine.

Ironically, while the party shied from taking credit for them, the Vishva Hindu Parishad VHP-BJP played to the gallery. They lost the other core vote of Brahmins too.

Significantly, the party’s response to the invite also contravenes its own stand on the Ram temple/Babri Mosque dispute, which it had spelt out in the 1989 agreement with the VHP that escalated the public campaign for the liberation of Ram Janmabhoomi.

The following is the abridged text of the agreement signed on September 27, 1989, at an early morning meeting held at the chief minister’s residence in Lucknow with VHP representatives.

It was signed by Ashok Singhal, Dau Dayal Khanna, Mahant Avaidyanath and Mahant Nrityagopal Das. The then Union minister Buta Singh was also present.

On August 14, 1989, the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court ordered that the status quo be maintained.

“Adhering to the status quo order of the high court” was considered a big achievement by the Congress high command that had allowed Shilanayas outside the disputed site (which the Babri Masjid Action Committee had contested later).

Strangely, the Congress never publicised the agreement though the VHP was still in the process of mobilising the public by performing shila poojan in different parts of the country and transporting the ‘sanctified’ bricks to Ayodhya in November 1989.

While the Hindu community at large had then failed to fathom the significance of Shilanayas, the Muslims dumped the party after the disputed shrine got demolished on December 1992 when PV Narasimha Rao (Congress) was the prime minister.

The Congress lost both the assembly and general elections in 1989, since then, the slide has continued.

BJP, on the other hand, grew in strength in both state assembly and Lok Sabha.

Congress’ temple invitation decline has triggered a political outrage and has not gone down well with a large section of Hindu majority people.

However, Uttar Pradesh Congress president Ajay Rai and other leaders took a holy dip in the Saryu river in Ayodhya on Monday and paid obeisance to Ram Lalla, somewhat trying to dispel the party’s anti-Hindu image.

“How can our Ayodhya visit for darshan of Lord Ram be against the party high command’s decision of not attending the consecration ceremony? The temple has been constructed on the directives of the Supreme Court, but the consecration day is being organised as a personal event of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Also, the shankaracharyas have cautioned the country about Pran Pratishtha in an incomplete temple.”

Rai assumed charge as state Congress chief on August 25 last year.

The delegation included the state-in-charge Avinash Pandey, Congress legislature party leader Aradhana Mishra, Rajya Sabha member Pramod Tiwari, former state unit president Nirmal Khatri, and other senior leaders.

Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra enters northern states including UP in February and this visit by state Congress leaders in Ayodhya could help in damage control for the party ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.

However, the BJP cadre will be trying to make the most of the temple inauguration function and materialise it into votes.