Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge, and Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury “respectfully” declined the invitation extended by Ram Janmabhoomi Temple Trust to attend the ‘Pran Prathista’ ceremony in Ayodhya on January 22, months before the country heads to the polls.
In a statement, the Congress said that its senior leaders would not be attending the inauguration ceremony of the Ram temple in Ayodhya on January 22. “Lord Ram is worshipped by millions in our country” and “religion is a personal matter”, read the party statement.
The Congress described the inauguration of an “incomplete” temple as a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ploy for electoral gain.
Meanwhile, the BJP was quick to slam Congress’ decision, suggesting that the grand old partywould face a boycott in the elections for their stance. Other political leaders like Akhilesh Yadav, Lalu Prasad, Mamata Banerjee, and Nitish Kumar also appear doubtful, causing further stir in the political landscape.
Congress has pressed a Self-Destruction Button
Although, we were expecting Congress to take such a decision, due to its hatred against Hindus, but taking this decision at this juncture is indeed a terrible one. PM Modi and BJP has successfully painted the Congress and other opposition parties as pro-Muslim and anti-Hindu. During his tenure, the BJP has been unabashedly a pro-Hindu party that has totally marginalized the so called Pseudo Secularism in politics.
A section of the Congress is of the opinion that the Congress should copy Modi’s template and be a Hindu party. In the recent elections, Kamal Nath and Bhupesh Baghel pursued that line and lost. On the contrary, Rahul Gandhi is of the opinion that Hindutva is not the way forward for the Congress. If it has to regain the people’s confidence, then it has to be seen to be fighting the RSS’s Hindutva, which, according to him, is based on hatred towards Muslims and Christians.
January 22, 2024, will not just see the pran prathistha and the installation of the idol of Ram at the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya, one of the holiest sites for Hindus, but more significantly, it will be the consecration of the most enduring symbol of national unity — a rashtra mandir. This marks the moment of civilisational triumph of a nation over 500 years of slavery and injustice, perpetrated by invaders and legitimised by their political and ideological apologists.
It marks not just the building of a beautifully crafted physical structure, with stones, inspiration, ideas, labour, and artisans from every nook and corner of the nation, but the collective awakening and adoption of the value systems of Maryada Purushottam Ram by every Bharatiya. The joy, celebration and anticipation for January 22 transcends borders. Truly, Ram sabke hai. He belongs to all of humanity.
But Congress has decided to look at the other way round, and it is going to hurt its political prospects for sure.
Congress Party is historically Anti-Hindu in nature
We cant blame the current congress leadership for this fiasco, as their party has a DNA of anti-Hinduism for many decades. Congress has the habit of exhibiting the DNA of Hindu virodh right from the time of Jawaharlal Nehru who disapproved of Rajendra Prasad’s presence at the inauguration of the Somnath Mandir, which also had a history of being demolished by invaders.
Nehru believed that the restoration project of Somnath was “Hindu revivalism”. To substantiate their position, observers also cite the brutal suppression of and justification for the disproportionate suppression of anti-cow slaughter protestors who were mostly Hindu saints and seers in 1966 by the Indira Gandhi government. The Congress did not help its cause in contemporary times by allowing its government to file an affidavit in 2007 that there was “no historical proof of Ram”, which was further reiterated by many Congress leaders who labelled Shri Ram as a “mythical and fictional” figure.
Add to that, the coinage of the terms “Hindu terror and saffron terror”, equating Hindutva to “ISIS”; the fact that a Congress leader and lawyer appeared for one party in the Ayodhya matter and wanted it postponed further despite the long legal tussle; the open and unabashed display of appeasement politics on policy issues; and the unrelenting attacks on Sanatan Dharma by the allies of Congress in the last few months — from DMK’s Udhayanidhi Stalin to Priyank Kharge, and Swami Prasad Maurya of SP to RJD’s controversial ministers attacking the Ramcharitmanas. On all these hate-filled statements of its allies, Congress remained more or less a mute spectator.
For the Congress party, therefore, to boycott this epochal moment only flags how low the party is willing to go for vote-bank politics and obstructionism. It is proof that it has allowed its hatred for one man and one party and its need to court a limited section of fanatics, to translate into hatred for, and rejection of, Ram and the rashtra itself. Even the most ardent Congress supporters like Arjun Modhwadia from Gujarat seem visibly shaken by the one-page official statement, ironically issued by Jairam Ramesh.
The Congress, by declining the invitation to visit the Ram Temple on January 22, has decided to hurt the sentiments of almost 100 Crore Hindus. This path is definitely challenging, difficult and more of self destructing. It will certainly hurt the party in the forthcoming elections and it is all set to loose the confidence of the people. The problem with the Congress is that it cant hide its deep seething hatred against Hindus.
