Staying away from Ram temple on January 22 is Congress’s cold comfort zone

“Finally they have taken a stand”. That was the pleased reaction of many to the Congress leadership’s decision to not attend the inauguration of the Ram Temple on January 22 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The event, the Congress said, had been politicised by the BJP and RSS for electoral gains.

For several weeks there had been a tantalizing buzz — whether Mallikarjun Kharge, Sonia Gandhi and Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury would accept theinvitation to attend the pran pratishtha (consecration).

The party, if insiders are to be believed, was divided. Leaders like Karan Singh and Arjun Modhwadia openly differed with the party stand, but many others who did not speak out also felt the same. It was Rahul Gandhi who is learnt to have weighed in on the final call.

The party has played it safe – the “Hindu vote” was not likely to have gravitated to it just because its leaders attended the inauguration ceremony; rather, Modi would have got all the credit. On the other hand, by attending, the party ran the risk of losing the goodwill of Muslims. The Congress may have also calculated that it was better to stand with its INDIA allies, who are not going either, than create a divide on this issue.

Mamata Banerjee was said to be not inclined, with Trinamool Congress sources saying she would take the cue from the Congress. The RJD was also opposed, with its junior leaders criticising the consecration, though Tejashwi Yadav and Lalu Prasad refrained from a public stand. Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav indicated which way he was leaning by saying he would go when Lord Ram’s “bulawa (bidding)” came.

While enabling the construction of the temple in its 2019 verdict, the Supreme Court had held the demolition of the Babri Masjid as “illegal”. For