The Congress party’s categorical assertion in support of a Ram temple at Ayodha seems to have evoked mixed reactions within the party, with a section of party leaders asking if the public articulation went beyond the resolution adopted by the Congress Working Committee (CWC).
The CWC, moments after the top court delivered its verdict on the Ayodha land title suit, came out with a measured response and did not explicitly talk about temple construction. But at the press conference to read out the resolution, party’s chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala made a categorical assertion backing the construction of the Ram temple.
“There is no ambiguity in the court order and it has clearly talked of setting up a trust to build a temple. Why should we go around in circles and avoid taking stand?” asked a senior leader from Madhya Pradesh.
The leader argued that Congress’s categorical stand in favour of the temple will not only help the party in the Hindi heartland States like Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, where it is in power, but will also put the brakes on the Bharatiya Janata Party from “portraying the Congress as a party that only appeases Muslims”.
A section of the party, however, differed with such public articulation and argued that the Congress could never win over the BJP voters with its “soft Hindutva”, positioning but could end up losing other supporters in non Hindi-belt States.
Party insiders say the CWC discussed threadbare all the possible scenarios, including a split verdict where different judges could give separate judgments or a majority-minority order.
A member said the CWC had deliberated at length on the wording of its statement and had avoided using phrases like “welcome the judgment” so that the Congress “was not seen to be taking sides”.
“Now that it has been articulated from the party’s official platform, it has the same force as the resolution,” the member added.
