As its 2 UP MLAs make a pilgrimage to Ayodhya with Yogi, why Congress is a divided house

In early January, the Congress high command decided that three of its senior leaders — Sonia Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge, and Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury — would skip the consecration of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya later that month. Though the party did not issue a diktat against its party workers and leaders attending the event, the political fallout of the decision has seen it make concerted efforts since then to ensure it is not seen as “anti-Ram” even at the risk of isolating ally Samajwadi Party (SP) in Uttar Pradesh. And this has also left its state unit divided.

On Sunday, Congress MLAs Aradhna Mishra and Virendra Chaudhary were part of the delegation of UP legislators that visited Ayodhya along with CM Yogi Adityanath and his Deputy CMs Keshav Prasad Maurya and Brajesh Pathak. The SP chose to opt out of the visit.

Since deciding not to attend the January 22 consecration event, the Congress has justified its stand by claiming that “Ram belongs to all” and there should be no politics over faith. State Congress president Ajay Rai said the party leadership skipped the event as it was a mega show put up by one political party and had nothing to do with faith. “All of us have faith in Ram,” he said.

Rai earlier told The Indian Express that prayers had been offered to Ram before the consecration. “Ram sabke hain. Humari bhi Bhagwan Ram mein aastha hai. (Lord Ram belongs to everyone. Even we have faith in Him). There must be no politics over it,” he said.

Elaborating on the reason for accepting Sunday’s invitation, Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Mishra said it was not a political visit. “We accepted the invitation of the Speaker and many (legislators) came with their families. It is a matter of faith and not politics,” she