After the consecration ceremony of the idol of Lord Ram in Ayodhya, a big question has arisen as to how the Congress and the entire opposition will counter the image of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He is now being viewed as a big face of Sanatan Dharma. Opposition’s attack against PM Modi may now be seen as an attack on the Sanatan Dharma.
What Prime Minister Modi said at the consecration ceremony is being considered as his best speech till date. He directly connected every Sanatani with himself by talking about Ram. Some experts say that Prime Minister Modi will now be seen above Shankaracharyas.
Undoubtedly, whatever happened in Ayodhya on January 22 has become history, which may have implications for politics of South India. The caste politics in South India may be ineffective in future as Ram is considered to be the incarnation of Lord Vishnu. And, most of the temples in the south are those of Lord Vishnu.
The Ram temple built in Ayodhya and the idol of Lord Ram are quite similar to the temples of the southern states of India. The idol depicting Ram’s childhood is creating an impact on the common people. If the Ram Temple issue impacts voters in South India, PM Modi’s goal of crossing 400 will turn into a reality.
On the contrary, opposition including Congress is still pursuing caste politics and continues to draw strength from its support base in the southern parts of the country. Some leaders of the ruling party in Tamil Nadu spoke against Sanatan Dharma which helped PM Modi in the elections last year. With Modi’s image as a strong Sanatan Dharma leader, the BJP might dent the voter base of the regional parties in South India.
It was the Ram Mandir issue that had rendered caste politics of North India ineffective, as Hindus who were earlier divided into various caste groups stood united due to this. The parties such as Bahujan Samaj Party, Samajwadi Party and Rashtriya Janata Dal pursued politics of Muslim appeasement under the guise of caste politics. Their politics has been relegated to the background now. After the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, these parties will have negligible presence.
The Ram Janmabhoomi movement helped BJP gain power in Delhi. The Congress continued to lose its vote base due to wrong decisions induced by the politics of Muslim appeasement. First it gave BJP an opportunity to unite the Hindus by opposing the Ram Temple. In 2004 the grand old party came to power through “manipulation”. But the Congress continued to target PM Modi over Gujarat riots when he was the CM of the state. Congress’ attack paved the way for Modi becoming a big face of Hindutva. He became the face of the Prime Minister in the BJP in 2014. Congress used to attack Modi to give a message to Muslims that only the grand old party is the real well-wishers of this community. As a result, the BJP-led government was formed at the Centre with a huge majority. Such a brutal majority could be seen only after a gap of three decades. The biggest mistake of Congress was that after independence, it claimed to be a secular party. It pursued politics to “please the Muslim community”. The Congress governments used to take all decisions just to appease the minority Muslim community, regardless of majority Hindu sentiments. Congress leaders would attend Muslim festivals. During Congress rule, events like Roza Iftar were organized on a large scale at the Prime Minister’s residence and the Congress Headquarters. Congress would be seen distancing from Hindu festivals at the same time. All this practice helped BJP in elections.
After the crushing defeat in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Congress tried not to indulge in appeasement politics, but could not do so openly. It was somewhere involved in this kind of politics. Be it giving membership of Rajya Sabha or speaking on Article 370, Congress made mistakes.
In a state like Rajasthan, where the Muslim population is just 5 per cent, the Congress government, in an effort to keep them happy, gave the BJP an opportunity to indulge in polarization politics. As a result, the Congress lost an important election of 2023 in Rajasthan. No lesson was learned from the defeat. The Congress leaders’ speeches on consecration in Ayodhya gave the message of the party being completely “anti-Hindu”. Rahul Gandhi, who may not even know about Hindu religion and its rituals, on the advice of advisors like KC Venugopal, Jairam Ramesh, Sam Pitroda, repeatedly termed the ceremony as a BJP event. This gave BJP an opportunity to call Congress an anti-Hindu party. Rahul might not even know the importance of touching the feet of saints in Hindu culture.
The leaders participating in the Nyaya Yatra which is currently in the north-eastern states apparently feel that the Ayodhya Pran Pratishtha ceremony has no effect in the country. Whereas, every Congressman in Hindi heartland is worried over how the party will challenge Prime Minister Modi who has now become the most prominent face of Sanatan Dharma after the January 22 programme.
In fact, like earlier, the Congress is still under the impression that the Hindus will not unite. Secondly, Congress still has the misconception that no one else can rule the country except it. So, there is no focus on preparing strong teams. When it is time to chalk out strategy for the Lok Sabha polls to be held in April, Nyaya Yatra is being taken out.
After the Ayodhya ceremony, the INDI alliance constituents would not even want to be seen standing with the Congress which has been tagged as an “anti-Hindu” outfit. The problem of Congress is that it does not have a leader who understands the pulse of the country. Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi are surrounded by sycophants who have nothing to do with politics. They cannot even win a corporation election. These are the people who do not allow anyone to meet Rahul and Priyanka.
This is what has brought Congress to the brink of destruction. Mallikarjun Kharge seems to be the only decorative head of the party. He gets information only after the decision.
Rahul’s advisors have convinced him that Congress is losing because of EVMs. Rahul has been told that his hard work will bear fruit in 2024 or even 2029. As long as Congress is run by such sycophants, BJP will have no problem in achieving big victory with less effort.
If BJP wins in South Indian states also, then what will happen to the Congress? If the grand old party is still not cautious it will have a much worse time ahead. It must see the plight of its Maharashtra ally Uddhav Thackeray’s party Shiv Sena. Congress should definitely be worried about saving the party not democracy.