Anita Katyal | Why BJP wants Kerala to rejoice; Pawar homes in on heir apparent
With two weeks to go for the grand consecration ceremony of the Ram Temple at Ayodhya, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s plans to publicise the event have picked up speed. Frenzied efforts are being made to ensure that details about the temple’s architecture, travel arrangements to Ayodhya and plans for celebrations at local temples percolate down to the grassroots through the combined use of social media and local cadres. While Hindi heartland states are fertile ground for such publicity, the BJP is using the Ram Temple consecration ceremony to expand its reach to territories, which have, so far, remained out of its reach. Take the case of Kerala, a state where the BJP is making strenuous efforts to put down roots. There are reports that people there have received messages through various social media platforms recalling that the real architect of the Ram Temple movement, K.K.K. Nair, hailed from Kerala and the public here should celebrate the construction of the temple in deference to his contribution. Nair was the district magistrate of Faizabad when the idols of Ram Lalla mysteriously appeared under the Babri Masjid’s central dome in 1949. Nair refused to remove the idols despite instructions from the then Uttar Pradesh chief secretary and inspector general of police. His decision laid the foundation of the Ram Janmabhoomi movement.
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In 2019, Nationalist Congress Party leader Sharad Pawar decided to move to the Rajya Sabha and fielded his daughter Supriya Sule from his Lok Sabha constituency Baramati. The move was meant to send out a message that Ms Sule is his heir apparent and that Mr Pawar would henceforth play an advisory role. However, the situation has changed dramatically since Senior Pawar’s nephew Ajit Pawar split the NCP and joined the Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party government in Maharashtra. Forced to play a more proactive role, there is talk that Sharad Pawar may contest the forthcoming Lok Sabha election from Baramati once again to cash in on the sympathy generated in his favour following the split. NCP insiders maintain this would enthuse its cadres and help the party electorally in constituencies neighbouring Baramati. At the same time, the BJP is learnt to be pressing Ajit Pawar to contest against his uncle. Alternatively, it is suggested he could field his wife. The BJP’s chief objective is to put an end to the Sharad Pawar era in Maharashtra politics.
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While the Congress is yet to initiate formal seat-sharing talks with its allies in the INDIA bloc, regional parties have made it clear that they plan to drive a hard bargain. Trinamul Congress chief Mamata Banerjee has said she would be willing to leave two seats for the Congress. Similarly, Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav is learnt to have told Rahul Gandhi that the Congress demand for 22 seats in Uttar Pradesh is unrealistic given the party’s negligible presence in the state. Mr Yadav has instead suggested the Congress focus on winning Amethi and Rae Bareli which itself could prove to be an uphill task. The Aam Aadmi Party, it is said, has offered two seats to the Congress in Delhi and one each in Punjab and Chandigarh.
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Congress Lok Sabha member Shashi Tharoor’s recent comments on the Ram Mandir did not go down well with his party which is still struggling to take a decision on whether its leaders should attend the consecration ceremony at Ayodhya on January 22. While stating that the invitation to Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge was an attempt to box the party, Mr Tharoor had said on social media platform X that the Bharatiya Janata Party was reverting to its core message, presenting Narendra Modi as a Hindu Hriday Samrat. In an informal conversation with presspersons, Congress communications chief Jairam Ramesh said Mr Tharoor is not the party’s official voice and any one offering such unofficial comments can be pulled up. Ramesh recalled he, too, had been pulled when he was not the communications head. To this, Pawan Khera, chairman of the Congress media and publicity department, remarked, “I was the one who pulled you up and today you are my boss.” A classic case of karma.
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The Congress released the route map of Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Nyaya Yatra last week. Set to start from Imphal on January 14, the yatra will wind its way through several states and end in Mumbai over two months later. Uttar Pradesh is among the several states Rahul Gandhi will be covering during this yatra. Among the places he plans to touch are Amethi, Rae Bareli, Varanasi, Prayagraj and Lucknow, but tellingly, Ayodhya is missing from the itinerary. A section in the Congress believes this is a glaring omission, considering Rahul Gandhi has been temple-hopping over the past few years on his countrywide tours in an effort to dispel the public perception that the Congress is anti-Hindu. Faced with a similar situation, his father, Rajiv Gandhi, had launched his 1989 election campaign from Faizabad, a few kilometres from Ayodhya, with the promise to usher in Ram Rajya. It’s a different matter that the Congress was defeated in that election.
