Didi hits nail on the head: Congress believes in ‘Thodo not Jodo’

The Ram Janmabhoomi controversy is over. Consecration ceremony was held in a grand manner. Ayodhya is getting transformed into a major city. But then the question is whether the consecration will prove to be an end of temple politics and controversies in the country.

After Kashi and Ayodhya rows, now the Gyanvapi temple at Varanasi and Mathura is occupying centre-stage. If the developments are any indication, it appears that the controversies will continue till at least 2029. It may be recalled that the Ram Janmabhoomi remained a hot political issue for three decades.

Another round of serious legal battle seems to be on the cards over the Gyanvapi mosque where the Gyanvapi trust claims that the mosque was constructed by demolishing Shiva temple during the time of Aurangzeb. The plaintiffs in the Gyanvapi mosque case have claimed that an image of the Hindu deity Shringar Gauri exists at the site while some claim that it was Lord Krishna’s deity that was there.

The recent archaeological evidences have lent further credence to the argument that it was Shiva temple. But then the Muslims are strongly contesting this. Their argument is that the administration is acting in ‘terrible haste’ to implement the order of the Varanasi district court which allowed the Hindus to perform prayers in the cellar of the mosque. They claimed that this action is pre-empting any legal challenge in the apex court by Muslims. “There is no reason for the administration to undertake this task in the dead end of the night as the order passed by the Trial Court had given them one week to make the necessary arrangements. The obvious reason for such unseemly haste is that the administration in collusion with the plaintiffs is trying to foreclose any attempt by the mosque managing committee to avail of their remedies against the said order by presenting them with a fait accompli,” they allege.

The lawyers of the mosque committee approached the residence of a Supreme Court registrar on January 31 night seeking an urgent hearing at night itself, raising the apprehension that pujas will be performed by Hindus inside the mosque during the night. In response, the registrar told them that he would get back to them after taking instructions from the Chief Justice of India. But, the Supreme Court rejected this plea and refused to admit the petition, asking the Masjid Committee to approach the High Court instead. Well, whatever it may be and whatever the final judgement would be, the fact is that electoral politics in India continue to follow the legacy of the British Raj. The policy of the Englishmen was to divide and rule and make people believe that the earlier rulers were good for nothing and that they ruined the country and had no vision to develop the country. This style of campaign is witnessed across the country and is being followed by all political parties, both at national and regional level.

The BJP would always blame the Congress for following the policy of appeasement of minorities and failing to resolve the Ayodhya issue and Article 370. They also blame the Congress that even after 75 years of Independence, the grand old party has not changed and that is why it refused to participate in the consecration of the statue of Lord Rama at Ram Janmabhoomi temple in December.

The interesting development regarding the grand old Congress party is that it is now petrified to take a stand either in favour of or Gyanvapi in the wake of the brickbats it received for declining the invitation to participate in the inauguration of Ram Janmabhoomi temple at Ayodhya.

Though the Varanasi court allowed puja at Gyanvapi temple which began immediately, barring Samajwadi party led by Akhilesh Yadav, neither Congress nor any of the INDI bloc members have taken any stand on it.

The Congress and all its leaders made all kinds of comments before the event at Ayodhya. Some Congress leaders like Shashi Tharoor even used some words which common man like me always fail to understand what it means.

The Congress party had taken a categorical stand on the issue of Gyanvapi in May 2022 when a court ordered videography survey which was carried out inside the Kashi Vishwanath temple-Gyanvapi mosque complex and then in September that year when the court said suits seeking the right to worship Hindu deities inside the complex were maintainable and not barred by the Places of Worship Act, 1991. But now surprisingly there is stoic silence from all. Apparently, it is fear of losing Hindu votes.

It now appears that the Congress would put the temple-mosque issue on the back burner and will try to divert the attention by stalling the proceedings of Parliament till February 9 by raising the issue of the arrest of Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren and the delay in swearing-in of the new chief minister. The Congress will take the stand that BJP is an autocratic party which does not believe in democracy and that it has destroyed all institutions including probe agencies like CBI and ED which are being used to malign the opposition and harass them.

The Congress party seems to be losing Dasa and Disa (Line and direction) and is losing precious time. The poll schedule is expected to be announced anytime after February 9 but the party is yet to start the exercise of selecting candidates. It appears to be groping in darkness not knowing how to take on the

BJP. Mere statements by leaders of Congress-ruled states that this time Rahul would become the Prime Minister will not work because the party has so far failed to be the force to unite all opposition parties without whose calipers, it can never get the magic figure to form the government.

One does not know whether it was display of frustration of AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge that came to fore on Friday when he commented in Rajya Sabha that all those who won the elections since 2014 were gift of Modi and his hyped charisma, but not on the original strength of the candidates, while people like him had worked hard from the grassroots level to reach the level of AICC president.

But then Kharge ji seems to forget that in the past all of them claimed they won because of Indira Gandhi. Even today the Congress party is heavily depending on the image of Indira Gandhi, not that of the candidates. That is why they promised to usher in ‘Indiramma Rajyam’ during Karnataka and Telangana Assembly elections.

It is really disappointing to see that the Congress party which claims to have won Independence for the country is not ready for ‘give and take’ policy and it is this big brotherly attitude which has led to collapse of the INDIA bloc. In fact, the name itself had several dots when it was formed – I.N.D.I.A – and thanks to the Congress party the dots could not be joined.

Though INDI bloc is falling apart, leaders like Kharge and Rahul Gandhi keep saying that all is well and soon seat sharing would be finalised. But the fact is all is in the well and that is going to be main strength for the saffron party to form Modi 3.0 government.

In this context, the sensational comments of West Bengal CM and TMC chief Mamata Banerjee on Friday that Congress believes in ‘Thodo not Jodo,’ and that the party is dreaming of winning 400 seats, but would not get more than 100 seats or so, assume significance. One may call her maverick but as far as her assessment of the situation regarding Congress is concerned, she certainly has a point to be pondered over.