Ram Temple invite: Congress caught between rock and a hard place in Kerala, BJP twists knife in

The decision of the Congress to keep away from the consecration of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya has left the party in a sticky situation in Kerala.

When the invitation was sent to the Congress, party leaders from Kerala were in the forefront demanding a boycott of the event, sensing the uneasiness among Muslims on the issue. But with two prominent Hindu organisations in Kerala hailing the ceremony and asking the faithful to celebrate the day, the Congress now fears the anger of its Hindu base.

Soon after the Congress national leadership “respectfully declined” the invitation extended to its leaders Sonia Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge and Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury to attend the event, the prominent Kerala Hindu outfit Nair Service Society (NSS) said: “It was the duty of every faithful to take part in the Ram Temple consecration ceremony in Ayodhya on January 22.”

Asking the faithful to do the same, NSS general secretary G Sukumaran Nair went on to say, “Boycotting the consecration event, based on politics, would amount to blasphemy. If political parties or organisations oppose the consecration, it would only be because of their selfishness and (desire for) political gain.”

The NSS is traditionally known as pro-Congress, and several senior party leaders, including K C Venugopal, Shashi Tharoor, Opposition leader V D Satheesan and former opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala, belong to the Nair community.

Close on the heels of the NSS, the influential backward Hindu Ezhava organisation, Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana Yogam, urged the faithful to light up their homes on the consecration day. Its general secretary Vellappally Natesan said the sentiment of every Hindu was attached to the Ram Temple. “Any force standing against that