Ram temple donation scam: Why is Congress not cashing in on BJP's crisis?

The Congress party is now repositioning its key players in election-bound Uttar Pradesh. A new Central party observer has been appointed for UP in Rajendra Pal Gautam. There is also talk of appointing a new Pradesh Party president so as to go in the upcoming elections for Assembly in UP with a new and more robust team.

But this has created a virtual flux in the party; and amid it, Congress has so far been unable to take on the BJP in a big way. The party was expected to befittingly respond to as huge a case of bungling of funds as that of the Ayodhya’s Ram temple, which it has so far not been able to – more so, since the scandal has badly confounded the people not only in UP but throughout the country.

Contradictory claims

In fact, the party higher-ups in Delhi and UP have been making contradictory claims about the Congress’s ways that, according to them, thus far went in to deal with what happened in Ayodhya after the first week of this month or after the scandal broke out.

Also read: 8 arrested in alleged Ram Temple donation embezzlement case in Ayodhya

A day after an FIR was filed in Ayodhya regarding the embezzlement of donations offered at the temple, the current UP party chief Ajay Rai, said in Varanasi that the FIR was filed due to the “pressure” built by the Congress, which had earlier protested in Lucknow before Lok Bhavan.

This is in sharp contrast to the party Rajya Sabha member Rajeev Shukla’s assertion that "Congress remained silent about the bizarre episode in Ayodhya until the FIR was filed as his party did not want to politicise the matter, which was mainly religious by its very nature.” Shukla was speaking at a Press conference held at Congress headquarters in Delhi on the same day or June 26 when Rai spoke in Varanasi.

The point is that the Congress is waking up rather late in the day to perhaps one of the worst crises that has come to dog the BJP because of theft at the Ayodhya temple

So, it seems that the party’s one hand doesn’t know what the other is doing. This may also be because Gautam has just been given the charge of UP to relieve party general secretary Avinash Pandey; and these days Rahul Gandhi is said to be abroad. The fact that the party could hardly devise a suitable response to the unthinkable large-scale siphoning of cash and other valuables from Mandir, courtesy of its staff and management, is too palpable to be easily missed by anyone.

Congress depending on ally SP

Congress too did not take long to realise its thus far contradictory, equivocal and deficient response to the anguish created by theft at Ayodhya. Priyanka Gandhi spoke on June 27 about the shocking revelations coming out of the temple town. She is on a visit to her Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency in Kerala.

Also read: SIT details shocking lapses in Ram temple scandal; Rs 80L recovered from arrested

Akhilesh Prasad Singh, another Congress veteran from UP, also hastened to address a Press conference in Delhi on June 27. He spoke about the enormity and seriousness of the issues thrown up by what has been happening at Ayodhya for quite some time, to strip off its highly celebrated temple of its possessions at will by the very custodians of the shrine.

So, the point is that the Congress is waking up rather late in the day to perhaps one of the worst crises that has come to dog the BJP because of theft at the Ayodhya temple. It can be said that the Congress mostly depends on taking on the BJP in UP on its ally Samajwadi Party (SP) and its leader Akhilesh Yadav. But as the reverberations created by the Ayodhya crisis go well beyond UP, Congress is clearly lacking in its response and this at best has so far been wishy-washy.

Unlike this, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) boss Arvind Kejriwal visited Ayodhya on June 26 and called for “public hanging” of the “demons” involved in the Mandir scam. He may be eyeing the forthcoming polls in UP, though he did not say anything during his two-day UP visit about the possibility of his party throwing its hat in the State’s electoral fray. Nevertheless, he may well be testing the waters before the poll dates are announced.

Kejriwal is adept at shifting Congress votes in multi-cornered State elections to either win polls or spoil the chances of Congress to win. Congress could well be apprehending this and, thus, it became a bit active on the Mandir controversy from the day Kejriwal reached Ayodhya, saying that he was keen to have darshan or a divine glimpse of Lord Rama at the newly constructed temple, which has now unexpectedly come to be in public discussion for the wrong reasons.

BJP unfazed by Kejriwal's visit

The BJP and Yogi Adityanath’s government were unfazed by Kejriwal’s visit. AAP Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Singh, who accompanied Kejriwal to Ayodhya, met members of the Special Investigating Team (SIT) formed by Yogi to investigate the unseemly turn of events at the Mandir and gave the investigators papers related to “shady property deals” that took place in Ayodhya during the construction of the Mandir.

Also read: Ram Mandir row: Why Champat Rai’s exit may trigger a big political battle

The way AAP leaders' UP visit has panned out leaves little doubt that the ruling BJP would love AAP to try its luck in UP polls. The AAP may well deflect or corner some of the anti-incumbency votes in case it decides to contest elections in UP. These votes may otherwise go against Yogi after his 10-year rule in UP and add up to the SP-Congress combine’s tally in the polls.

Whether Rahul is able to tackle the public outrage being created by the pilferage of cash and other valuables from the temple alongside paper leaks to the advantage of his party, or not, will only be known through the coming days and weeks

Congress may or may not be factoring in this possibility. Months ahead of the polls, it is hard to predict other parties moves. Yet, the grand old party plans to regain some of its lost ground in UP. In the last Lok Sabha polls, Congress got six MPs elected. This was out of 17 candidates it had fielded in alliance with the SP. Now it may seek more Assembly seats to contest under the same alliance.

Thus, Congress wants to relieve UPCC president Ajay Rai so as to make him contest from Pindra Vidhan Sabha seat, near Varanasi, in an unincumbered way. He has contested from this seat in the past, besides being Congress candidate against Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Varanasi in the past three Lok Sabha polls. Congress insiders say that a hunt is on to find a suitable replacement of Rai to head the party in UP.

Who will be next UPCC chief?

Several names, including that of party Lok Sabha members like Imran Masood and Rakesh Rathore from Saharanpur and Sitapur respectively, are doing the rounds for next UPCC chief. But in the process of selecting a new face for its UP unit, Congress is, indeed, missing out to mount a serious challenge to the BJP in not only UP but also at a countrywide level.

Also read: Ayodhya Ram temple theft probe turns spotlight on Mishra family’s ‘wealth surge’

This becomes all the more obvious with its meek or confused response to the latest controversy related to Ram Mandir and the poor and inept management of its funds, though the party has planned a series of rallies by Rahul against recent and still continuing examination paper leaks affecting the future of millions of students.

So, whether Rahul is able to tackle the public outrage being created by the pilferage of cash and other valuables from the temple alongside paper leaks to the advantage of his party, or not, will only be known through the coming days and weeks.

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