Once again the Congress has played a political gambit on Ayodhya, again a bit reluctantly and again forced to the wall. The party Wednesday declined the invitation extended to its leaders Sonia Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge and Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury by the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust to attend the consecration ceremony of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya on January 22.
When it comes to the Ramjanmabhoomi dispute, the Congress is weighed down by its history – a past chequered by vacillations and contradictions. The locks of the Babri Masjid were opened in 1986 when Rajiv Gandhi was the Prime Minister. His then aides argued later that he was not in the know. But three years later, seeking to contain the BJP’s temple push, it was he who permitted the VHP to perform shilanyas at the disputed site.
In 1991, again with the BJP on mind, the Congress manifesto for the Lok Sabha polls mentioned the temple, saying the party was for construction of one without demolishing the Babri Masjid. A year later, the mosque came down under the watch of a Congress government at the Centre.Then, in November 2019, came the Supreme Court ruling in favour of the Hindu side in the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid title suit case. With the Narendra Modi-led BJP back with an even larger majority at the Centre, the Congress, fighting for its political survival, welcomed the order and declared it was in favour of construction of a Ram temple.
Convincing the allies
The Congress’s hope will be that its allies in the INDIA bloc follow suit and stay away from the Ram Temple consecration; several indicated the same on Wednesday. It will do the party no good if it is seen as isolated on this issue.
But while signals coming from its partners Wednesday were positive, it is not clear whether the other invited parties will spell out their positions as clearly, thus becoming the topic of prime-time debates, or opt to quietly drop out.
Sources said that the Congress had gauged the sense of parties in the INDIA bloc before announcing its decision. And that top party leaders might visit the temple after the consecration, thus conveying that its move was always about opposing BJP politics and never about faith.
The Uttar Pradesh Congress, for instance, has already announced that about a hundred of its leaders will visit Ayodhya on the auspicious Makar Sankranti day on January 15. They will be offering prayers too – to the Ram Lalla “virajman”, that is the existing makeshift temple where the Babri Masjid once stood.
