Ayodhya row has handed INDIA alliance a rare chance to challenge BJP on an issue that has made Hindus furious; its piecemeal response risks squandering this
The INDIA alliance of 23 Opposition parties on Tuesday (June 30) wrote a letter to the Chief Justice of India, Justice Surya Kant, expressing anguish over the issue of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in the country.
While it is true that the issue is central to saving Indian democracy from the authoritarian stranglehold of the BJP and its affiliates in the RSS, the Opposition appears to be missing out on something more opportune and urgent, waiting to be encashed for a much greater political gain than the SIR can offer.
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The issue of theft at the Ram temple in Ayodhya has, inarguably, agitated the minds of most Hindus, cutting across party lines. These also include those who have pitched their tents in the RSS camp, particularly the neo-Hindutva types from non-upper-caste backgrounds, who have gravitated towards Hindutva in the post-Modi era. What the Opposition needs to do is tap into their negative sentiment on this issue to turn the tables on the BJP.
Hindus are aggrieved
It is a fact that most Hindus today are aggrieved and pained by the wanton loot committed at the temple by those with an RSS background. The issue has become a matter of heated discussion all over the country.
The fact that the RSS and the BJP won’t be able to respond to these charges with their usual arrogance gives the Opposition much-needed firepower to turn the tables on them.
People are angry that the RSS has used their faith to make political gains for the BJP and has now let them down profoundly by presiding over a system that has ended up looting crores of rupees in cash and other valuables from the temple of the deity they hold so close to their hearts. Their faith in the RSS-BJP system has been rudely shaken.
And that, precisely, is the reason for the Opposition to cash in on this sentiment.
RSS-BJP on back foot
The RSS-BJP combine has together done severely damaging things that have undercut the Constitution over the past 12 years, and most of those have been widely discussed, debated and agitated against. The main damage has been the de-secularisation of the Indian polity and the replacement of socialistic ideals with crony capitalism and a plutocratic monopoly of a select few.
But the Opposition’s campaigns haven’t helped much so far to bring about any salutary effect on the failing health of India’s badly mauled democracy.
But the corrupt, power-drunk and ruthless RSS-BJP system is suddenly finding its feet stuck in the shifting sands of the temple theft storm. Never before have the RSS and the BJP been on such a back foot as they are on this issue. No statement, condemning or refuting the allegations, has come either from RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat or Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
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That stands out sharply in contrast with their usual style of brazening out all the allegations. For the first time in 12 years of Modi’s rule, the Sangh Parivar is on a sticky wicket, unable to formulate any cogent response.
Admission of guilt
Following a probe by a Special Investigative Team (SIT) constituted by Uttar Pradesh, the two topmost RSS men in charge of temple management, Champat Rai and Anil Mishra, have resigned, and eight others have been arrested. Clearly, the admission of guilt has already come.
What needs to be understood by the Opposition is that this has presented it with a once-in-an-epoch opportunity to exploit the situation to the hilt to expose the real face of the Hindutva brigade. A sustained campaign is the need of the hour to impress upon the people’s minds how the Sangh and the BJP have used the Hindu religion to establish a kingdom of theft and dacoity that didn’t spare even the Ram temple, where crores of Hindus had invested their faith and hard-earned property.
The fact that the RSS and the BJP won’t be able to respond to these charges with their usual arrogance gives the Opposition much-needed firepower to turn the tables on them.
Sangh faces critical test
For the Sangh Parivar, the Ram temple theft issue is potentially as damaging as the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi by one of their disputed swayamsevaks, Nathuram Godse.
Of course, the RSS was a much weaker organisation then, with no political power. Today, it is ruling the country and is flush with money and muscle power. Clearly, the challenge is much more difficult than when Gandhi was assassinated.
The RSS has used Hindutva to come this far and build an empire of falsehood and deceit that appears determined to turn India into a banana republic. It is already well on course to achieve its anti-Constitutional dream of a repugnant Hindu Rashtra based on Manu’s Brahminical ideals. The Ram temple theft has exposed its real face.
Also read | Blame politics, not the system, for Ayodhya temple donation theft
If the Opposition fails to move the Hindus on this issue, it will be squandering a golden opportunity that has presented itself on a platter. If this can’t help, nothing else will.
Bits and pieces
For now, the Opposition seems to be condemning it in bits and pieces. No statement has yet come from the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi. He has been harping on “vote chori” for far too long. It hasn’t helped much. What he seems to be oblivious to is that this chori (theft) will potentially strike a much greater chord with the people than “vote chori”.
Congress veteran Sonia Gandhi has written an article on India’s silence on the Israeli genocide in Gaza. That hardly hurts the BJP.
The Congress needs to galvanise the INDIA alliance into an all-India campaign to corner the BJP and the RSS on this issue in a sustained manner.
The Ram temple theft has become the RSS-BJP’s Achilles’ heel. The entire Opposition needs to come together to hit the RSS-BJP where it hurts them the most. It’s time to give the RSS and the BJP a taste of their own Hindutva medicine.
(The Federal seeks to present views and opinions from all sides of the spectrum. The information, ideas or opinions in the articles are of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Federal.)
