New Delhi: Ever since the Congress has declined its invitation to attend the inauguration ceremony of the Ram Janmabhoomi temple, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has left no opportunity to declare the grand old party as ‘anti-Hindu’ and ‘anti-Ram’. The Congress has categorically termed the ceremony as one that is being turned into a “BJP/RSS event”. It said that religion is a ‘personal matter’, but the BJP has “made a political project of the temple in Ayodhya”.
The Congress’s response is consistent with its opposition to the demolition of the Babri Masjid by Hindutva forces. The fact that the temple is being built atop the dome of the mosque is reason enough for all democratic-minded citizens who believe that Hindutva politics, since the 1990s, has expanded itself on the shoulders of the grave injustice meted out to the Muslim community to reach where it is now.
The Ram Janmabhoomi is not merely any temple. It is a temple where once a mosque stood and was brought down with sheer force of hate and muscle. It was an episode of national shame, the burden of which is being carried by the secular parties even today. The BJP has choreographed so much hype and hoopla to strip the Ayodhya temple of its history. It sees the construction of the temple as epochal in India’s Hindu history, but wants everyone to conveniently forget about the violence that eventually led to its creation. For this precise reason, it has done everything on its part to wipe out any memory of its own violent history and the role that it played in sharply polarising India along religious lines.
One would have wished that the opposition parties would have used the opportunity to remind people that the Ayodhya temple is not one based on faith but is a mere instrument at the hands of the BJP, and the Sangh parivar, to perpetuate a majoritarian common sense. Barring the Left parties, none of the opposition parties have taken such a stance.
Yet, the Congress’s non-attendance has given secular-minded citizens something to hold on to. More than the Congress, the decision of the four Shankaracharyas, the foremost flag bearers of the Hindu faith, to give the event a miss, has certainly exposed the BJP’s scheme to play around with people’s faith.
The Congress has amplified the boycott by the Shankaracharyas, and questioned the BJP on why it is in a hurry to perform a consecration ceremony of Ram Lalla in an incomplete temple. The Shankaracharyas believe that the Hindu Shastras do not permit anyone to perform consecration of a deity in an incomplete temple. They also believe that January 22 falls in the lunar month of Paus, which is inauspicious for the ceremony, while also claiming that the ceremony is being conducted in haste to hand political and electoral gains to the saffron party in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. Are the Shankaracharyas also “anti-Hindu” and “anti-Ram”, the BJP should answer.
It is evident that the BJP is using the ceremony for political gains, and precisely that is what the saffron party wants people to ignore by manufacturing a mass hysteria around the ceremony. A pliant media, as usual, has only aided and abetted the goal for the BJP. It has failed to question the BJP, even minutely, on how the political celebration by the Union government and its ministers of the ceremony is not a violation of the constitution, which promises a clear separation of religion and the State.
In fact, in that sense, the grand inauguration ceremony with Prime Minister Narendra Modi presiding over it himself, is the biggest instance of how the BJP has successfully merged religious matters with State policy. With the blatant campaigning around welcoming Ram Lalla in the temple by all the BJP leaders, from top to bottom, coupled with the simultaneous announcement of development projects worth Rs 31,000 crore in Ayodhya and the inauguration of a new airport and railway facility in the town by the Centre, there’s no doubt about how the BJP has tried to milk Ayodhya’s divisive politics to dive India even further.
Amidst all the canvassing by the BJP against the Congress for allegedly being “anti-Hindu”, the Congress party spokesperson Supriya Shrinate asked, “All four Shankaracharyas have decided to not visit Ayodhya (for ‘Pran Pratishtha’ of Ram Temple). But there is no outrage over this. Does this not hurt religion? It is absolutely wrong to do politics over religious rituals. We are not declining a visit (to Ayodhya). We are not going to the January 22 event in Ayodhya that is being held in the presence of Prime Minister Modi and the RSS chief. Shankaracharyas are not going to that event either. We don’t want to be a part of the disgusting politics that is being done…”
At the same time, Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera said, “If this event is religious, then is it happening under the guidance of the Shankaracharyas of the four Peeths? All four Shankaracharyas have said clearly that the ‘Pran Pratishtha’ of an incomplete temple cannot be done. If this event is not religious, then it is political… It is not acceptable that the people of a political party are sitting as middlemen between me and my God… A political group is acting like a ‘thekedar’… Which ‘Panchang’ has the BJP referred to before finalising the date? The date has been chosen keeping the elections in mind.”
The fact of the matter is that even before the Shankaracharyas weighed in on the matter, it was evident that the ceremony was being planned as the BJP’s political project, wherein the attempted appropriation of Lord Ram to advance its Hindu supremacist politics was writ large. Contrary to what the opposition parties may think, common people who are not affiliated to any political party are wise enough to see the blatant politicking of the BJP.
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There are certain sections in the Congress which are not convinced about the Congress leadership’s decision to boycott the event. They believe that they may have a tough time explaining the party logic to people while canvassing. Many of them have also questioned the party leadership on the decision and have requested it to reconsider. However, this is perhaps the time when the leadership could also rein in and reorient the Congress towards taking ethical positions which are consistent with its party constitution.
Regional parties like the Samajwadi Party, Trinamool Congress, and many others, including the right-wing Shiv Sena (Uddhav Thackeray) group had already called out the political instrumentalisation of the January 22 ceremony. The Congress has come in late but now should stick to it with aggression. This is the time for the party to forcefully represent those who believe in the original liberal-democratic idea of India. Only then, it can retain its relevance in the times of a majoritarian onslaught, and not by capitulating under the pressure of a manufactured mass hysteria.
