In its decision to not attend the Ram Mandir pran pratishtha in Ayodhya, is the Congress opposing the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s day of political domination or standing up for an ideological principle?
The question becomes relevant because several well-respected public intellectuals on the ideological Left have hailed the Opposition’s response as a stand that takes the party back to its Nehruvian secularism roots.
Let’s for a moment put aside the question of whether Nehruvian secularism — as distinct let’s say from Gandhi’s embrace of faith — is politically counter-intuitive for the times. The truth is that you cannot invoke both Nehru and the Shankaracharyas to explain your position and then argue that you are ideologically distinct from the BJP.
And that is what the Congress — and several other Opposition leaders — have done.
The four Shankaracharyas, who have declined to attend the Ayodhya ceremony, head mutts established by the 8th-century Hindu philosopher Adi Shankara. Based in Uttarakhand, Odisha, Karnataka and Gujarat, these pontiffs are seen as the custodians of the scriptures, in particular the Vedas.
But if religion is a personal matter, which is what the Congress press statement argued when announcing that its leaders would not be in Ayodhya, then politicians should not be quoting seers to rationalise their choice.
Congress supporters and BJP critics — not necessarily the same people — have hailed the Opposition’s stand to argue, as one friend said to me, that “it is the right choice, even if for the wrong reasons”.
But if it is Hindutva politics that the Opposition is rejecting, how can you buttress your view by falling back on comments by the Shankaracharyas? Swami Nischalananda Saraswati, the Shankaracharya of Puri, for instance, has long advocated for India to become a Hindu rashtra. In recent television interviews, he also reinforced the place of caste in the social order. The point is that you can’t make a case for the separation of politics and religion if you are going to depend on religious seers to make that case!
The mandir moment has revealed ideological chaos within the INDIA bloc and the Opposition ranks. Uddhav Thackeray’s party wants to take credit for being one of the early architects of the Ram Janmabhoomi movement. His colleagues will remind the media that he offered one crore rupees in his personal capacity “as a bhakt” to the mandir trust in 2020 when he was still chief minister (CM) of Maharashtra. The Delhi CM, Arvind Kejriwal, has led the Sunderkand recitation at a temple in the Capital ahead of the consecration ceremony. Sunderkand is a chapter from the Ramcharitmanas dedicated to the prayer of Hanuman. The Aam Aadmi Party has announced that such recitations will be organised across all 70 assembly segments of Delhi, with a special party team dedicated to the cause.
Udhayanidhi Stalin of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, pulling the ideological band in the exact opposite direction, has effectively questioned the Supreme Court verdict by declaring that he cannot accept the temple where a mosque once stood. This will add greater grist to the mill after his contentious remarks on sanatana dharma. Sharad Pawar and Akhilesh Yadav have been understated in their responses, only saying they will visit with their families at a later date.
And then there’s the Congress whose leaders are perhaps the most confused. Do they want to claim credit for Rajiv Gandhi opening the locks in Ayodhya or enabling the first shilanyas to take place — as Kamal Nath did during his (failed) Madhya Pradesh campaign — or disassociate from those years of playing both the Hindu and Muslim communities? The visit by the UP Congress leaders to Ayodhya ahead of the consecration tells you that the party is worried about being seen as anti-Hindu after the decision it has taken.
Now, of course, the Opposition is correct about one thing. The day may be a deeply religious and sentimental one for millions irrespective of their voting choice, but it is also an epochal political moment. It marks the culmination of one phase of the BJP’s Hindutva project. And of course, the party will look to maximise the political benefits in an election year.
There’s no question that the Opposition would have been in the long shadows of the Prime Minister had they attended the event.
But, in battle, you also duck some bullets, so that you have ammunition to fight another day.
It would have been much smarter for the Opposition’s own electoral fortunes to participate in the mandir ceremony and inevitably be the also-rans on a day that politically belongs to the BJP. In turning down the invite, they have revealed vacillation, contradictions, and inconsistencies and have also ensured that Hinduism and Hindutva become the central talking points in the election season.
Barkha Dutt is an award-winning journalist and author. The views expressed are personal
