Ayodhya puts Congress in Kerala in a catch-22 situation

Senior Congress leader K Muraleedharan said state unit has urged national leadership not to participate, while KPCC chief K Sudhakaran said he was unaware of the state unit conveying its position.

Thiruvananthapuram: The Congress in Kerala is in a catch-22 situation over the Ayodhya Ram temple consecration.

Not only that the Muslim outfits in the state are expressing displeasure over Congress national leadership's plans to attend the function, the CPM's open stand not to attend the event has also put the Congress in Kerala in a tight spot.

Even as the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) is trying to evade reply to questions in this regard, party senior leaders like Lok Sabha MP K Muraleedharan openly said that the Congress in Kerala was not in favour of the party attending the event as it could hurt the sentiments of the Muslims in Kerala.

Kerala has a Muslim population of 27 percent (as per 2011 census) and the community is a decisive vote bank in many constituencies, including Wayanad that is represented by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi. Hence the mainstream political parties in the state, Congress and CPM, often maintain a Muslim appeasement stand - support to Palestine and opposition to Uniform Civil Code are recent instances.

Muslim scholars' body Samastha Kerala Jamiyyathul Ulama (Samastha) had expressed its resentment against Congress national leaders attending the Ram Temple consecration. In an editorial in its mouthpiece 'Suprabhatham', it accused the Congress of maintaining a soft-Hindutva approach and also hailed the CPM's stand not to attend it. Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), a key ally of the Congress, also indirectly expressed their differences over Congress attending the ceremony.

While KPCC president K Sudhakaran stated that it was for the party national leadership to take a decision on such matters, opposition leader V D Satheesan of the Congress did not respond to the matter yet.

However, Congress MP Muraleedharan said that the party Kerala unit's opinion that the party should keep off from the event was conveyed to AICC general secretary K C Venugopal. "Congress is a party that comprises people of all religions and beliefs. Hence the party shall not attend. The party national leadership will take a decision after discussion with other parties in the I.N.D.I.A bloc," he said.

In a bid to counter CPM's and BJP's bid to take political gain from the matter, Muraleedharan said that since the CPM is a party of atheists it would not have much difficulty in taking a stand on such matters. He also said that in a secular nation having people of various religions it was unfair that the Prime Minister was inaugurating a temple. He also alleged that the BJP was trying to play politics over the issues.

Mounting pressure on the Congress, BJP Kerala state president K Surendran asked the Congress to clarify the party's stand.