Rajiv Gandhi.
Credit: DH File Photo
Right from the beginning, the Congress has been entrenched in the Ram Janmabhoomi dispute. Here, we take a closer look at how the party and its leaders have 'contributed' to the Ram Janmbhoomi Movement since independence.
Jawaharlal Nehru's clear stance
During the night of December 22-23, 1949, a person named Abhiram Das secretly placed the idol inside the mosque just before the guards were about to change. Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru instructed Govind Vallabh Pant to order the district magistrate of Ayodhya to remove the Hindus from the Ram Mandir and take out the idol from the Babri Masjid complex.
District Magistrate K K Nair, however, refused to comply with Nehru's directive, stating that Hindus worshipped at the site. Nair argued against removing the idol and suggested that he be replaced by another officer if the government wanted it removed. This suggestion was accepted, and the Masjid was attached and placed under the control of the municipal board, with the idol still inside.
This displeased Nehru who then penalized and suspended Nair from service. Nair later joined the Jan Sangh and dedicated himself to the cause of the Ram Mandir.
Nehru's stance caused unrest within the party. Baba Raghav Das, an ascetic and the Congress MLA from Faizabad, threatened to resign from the Assembly and the party if the idol was removed, Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay writes in his 2021 book The Demolition And The Verdict.
Nehru decided not to visit Ayodhya in 1950 and expressed in a letter to Pant on April 17 of that year that he did not visit so as not “to come in conflict with my old colleagues and (because) I feel terribly uncomfortable there, because I find that communalism has invaded the minds and hearts of those who were the pillars of the Congress in the past,” Mukhopadhyay quotes him saying.
Congress leaders back demand much before BJP
In the 1980s, there was a resurgence in demand for the 'restoration' of the temple in Ayodhya to Hindus. Even before the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) officially endorsed this demand at the meeting of its National Executive in Palampur, Himachal Pradesh, in June 1989, many Congress leaders in Uttar Pradesh and North India had already shown their support.
One such leader was Gulzarilal Nanda, a respected Gandhian, who established the Shri Ram Janmotsav Samiti on Ram Navami in 1983. RSS leaders also attended an event hosted by Nanda during this time.
Dau Dayal Khanna, a Congress leader and former UP minister, was the first politician to write to then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in May 1983, urging the restoration of Ayodhya, Kashi, and Mathura to Hindus.
Khanna later became a key speaker at a Hindu Sammelan organized by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) in Muzaffarnagar in 1983. He also served as the general secretary of the committee formed by the VHP in 1984 to "liberate" Ram Janmabhoomi. Mahant Avaidyanath of Gorakhpur, who preceded Yogi Adityanath, was the head of this committee.
Rajiv Gandhi gets the locks of the Babri Masjid opened in the mid-1980s
In 1986, the Rajiv Gandhi government, reportedly advised by Arun Nehru, the prime minister's cousin, made a strategic political move by ordering the opening of the locks of the Babri Masjid complex in a bid to consolidate Savarna Hindu vote.
In 1987, during Rajiv Gandhi's tenure as prime minister, the state broadcaster Doordarshan aired a popular 78-episode serial called Ramayana, produced by Ramanand Sagar. This serial gained significant popularity among viewers.
In November 1989, Rajiv Gandhi sent Buta Singh, who was the home minister at the time, to Ayodhya to participate in the Shilanyas ceremony, which involved the laying of the foundation stone for the temple.
Additionally, Rajiv Gandhi launched the Congress party's campaign for the 1989 parliamentary election with a rally held in Ayodhya-Faizabad. During this rally, he made a promise to establish 'Rama Rajya'.
P V Narasimha Rao fails to act
During the demolition of the mosque in 1992, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was in power in Uttar Pradesh, with Kalyan Singh serving as the chief minister. At that time, P V Narasimha Rao from the Congress was the prime minister. Both leaders remained unresponsive as the mobs eventually destroyed the mosque completely.
The Congress showed its strong support for the Savarnas (upper castes) during this period, and P V Narasimha Rao was willing to go to great lengths for their allegiance. Rao, a Brahmin politician, seemed to have trusted Atal Bihari Vajpayee more than his own party leaders or any other party. Within the party, leaders like Arjun Singh and Rajesh Pilot were dissatisfied and unhappy with how the leadership was coddling the country's Hindutva elements.
Congress maintains stance of 'no historical proof'
In the new millennium, specifically in September 2007, the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) led by the Congress party made a statement to the Supreme Court stating that there was no historical evidence to support the belief that Lord Ram had actually existed.
The UPA government, in its affidavit submitted to the Supreme Court said “Valmiki Ramayana and Ramcharitamanas admittedly form an important part of ancient Indian literature, but these cannot be said to be historical records to incontrovertibly prove the existence of the characters and occurrences of events depicted therein.”
Kapil Sibal, a senior Congress leader, represented the Sunni Wakf Board in the Ram Janmabhoomi case and opposed the construction of a large Ram temple in Ayodhya. However, he was later advised by his party to recuse himself from the case, deeming it a 'politically sensible' decision.
Another prominent Congress leader, Shashi Tharoor, had previously expressed the view that no "good Hindu" would desire to build a Ram temple on the site of the Babri Masjid. He suggested that the Ram temple should instead be constructed symbolically in one's heart.
U turn: Congress vows to build temple ahead of 2019 General Elections
In the months leading up to the 2019 general elections, the Congress party, which had previously denied the existence of Lord Ram, changed its stance in order to appeal to Hindu voters.
They suddenly expressed their commitment to building a Ram temple in Ayodhya. Posters and banners of Rahul Gandhi began featuring Lord Ram, and they even claimed that the construction of the Ram temple would only happen if the Congress party came into power.
Rahul, Priyanka praise Lord Ram
In August 2020, the foundation stone was laid for the grand temple dedicated to Lord Ram at the Ram Janmabhoomi following Supreme Court's decision. The Congress party and its leaders underwent a significant change in their stance regarding the matter.
Rahul Gandhi said, “Maryada Purushottam Lord Rama is the manifestation of the best human qualities” like love, compassion, and justice.
Priyanka Gandhi emphasized the importance of the Bhoomipujan ceremony of the temple as an opportunity for national unity.
Additionally, Kamal Nath, the former Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh and Congress General Secretary, become a devout follower of Lord Ram and even recited the Hanuman Chalisa. He also contributed 11 silver bricks for the construction of the temple.
Congress leaders raise funds to build Ram Temple
In January 2021, the National Students Union of India (NSUI), the student wing of the Congress party, initiated a donation drive in Rajasthan to contribute towards the construction of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya.
The Congress party faced controversy just a few days prior to this event as well regarding the collection of funds for the Ayodhya temple construction in Kerala.
The vice president of Alappuzha District Congress Committee (DCC), TG Raghunatha Pillai, had inaugurated a fund collection drive initiated by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
Party declines invitation
The invitation for Sonia Gandhi, the party president, Mallikarjun Kharge, and the party's leader in Lok Sabha, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, to attend the inauguration ceremony on 22 January has been declined by the party, with the party's stance being that "the RSS/BJP have long made a political project of the temple in Ayodhya.”