Opposing views on whether the Congress national leadership should attend the consecration of the Ram temple at Ayodhya reportedly menaced Saturday’s crucial Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee’s (KPCC) executive meeting convened to put the party’s State unit on to a 2024 Lok Sabha election campaign footing.
By some accounts, Congress leader V.M. Sudheeran cautioned the party against appearing to toe a soft Hindutva line by allegedly remaining ambivalent about the pressing question of whether the national leadership would attend the high-profile religious ceremony.
The executive seemed acutely aware that the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] had exploited Mr. Sudheeran’s public position to portray Congress as a party torn between two conflicting positions on the Ayodhya question, presumably with an eye on minority votes that has traditionally hewed to the UDF.
Some executive members reportedly criticised Mr. Sudheeran for allegedly jumping the gun on a prickly political issue under the AICC’s scrutiny. They pointed out that Congress remained an expansive tent that accommodated all faiths. Suggesting that Congress toe a particular religious line was politically inexpedient and dovetailed with CPI(M)‘s accusations of soft Hindutva.
‘Decision by AICC’
Later, AICC general secretary (Kerala), Deepa Das Munshi, told reporters: “It is a mandir. It’s about our faith. The BJP, as a political party, has invited the Congress to the consecration. The AICC has constrained the party from commenting on the question till it takes a final call”.
Sunni leader Syed Jifri Muthukoya Thangal seemed to give an embattled Congress a breather by stating that decisions by political parties to attend or stay away from religious functions would not hurt any faith.
However, Communist Marxist Party (CMP) State secretary C.P. John, a UDF ally, seemed to endorse Mr. Sudheeran’s line that Congress should not attend the ceremony appropriated by the BJP for political purposes.
The Telangana model
On the electoral front, the KPCC resolved to replicate the Telangana model of campaigning in Kerala, complete with war rooms in 20 Lok Sabha constituencies. It will organise workshops in early January to finalise State-specific policy proposals.
Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan and KPCC president K. Sudhakaran will embark on a joint State tour to counterbalance Navakerala Sadas’s debatable impact.
An insider said the KPCC might hold back “controversy-igniting” issues such as caste census, given their potential to antagonise powerful Hindu social groupings, primarily the Nair Service Society, during the crunch weeks of the Lok Sabha poll campaign.
