Bhopal: Congress workers will definitely visit Ayodhya’s new Ram Mandir and that too in lakhs, but the party will never seek votes in the name of Ram, the party’s Madhya Pradesh chief Jitu Patwari, who took over from veteran leader Kamal Nath last month, has told ThePrint.
Emphasising his Hindu identity, Patwari asserted that he was a “proud Hindu” walking on the principles laid down by Ram and Krishna.
“Our Constitution gives us the freedom to practice the religion of choice… similarly, my brothers who are of Muslim and Sikh faiths have the same rights. Those who believe in the Hindu religion, if they celebrated, there should be nothing wrong in it,” he said.
Patwari’s words come in the backdrop of the Congress high command’s decision to turn down the invitation to the 22 January pran pratishtha at the newly built Ram Mandir, terming it “a political event”.
In Madhya Pradesh, however, posters were put up outside the party office in Bhopal stating that the inauguration of the temple was a dream of (former Congress president and former prime minister) Rajiv Gandhi that had been fulfilled.
Senior Congress leaders such as former chief minister Kamal Nath and MP Nakul Nath also held a 21-day programme in Chhindwara in the run-up to the pran pratishtha, sending to Ayodhya nearly 5 lakh patraks (pamphlets) with ‘Ram’ written on it.
On the Congress’s stand, Patwari said the party’s support for the Ram Mandir was as strong as that of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, but the difference was that while the BJP sought votes in Ram’s name, the Congress would “never do so”.
“As far as the Ram Mandir is concerned, we have as strong a belief in it as that of Narendra Modi, but his party will ask for votes in his name. Our party until today has not asked for votes in the name of Ram or religion. We have never politically used it (the temple issue) and this is a big difference,” he added.
The Ram temple in Uttar Pradesh’s Ayodhya has been constructed where the Babri Masjid used to stand, after the Supreme Court, hearing the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid title dispute case, unanimously ruled in 2019 that the disputed land belonged to Hindus. The mosque was razed by karsevaks in 1992.
In 1985, it was the Rajiv Gandhi government that had allowed the locks of the disputed site to be opened, allowing access to the premises to the Hindus.
“When it comes to credit for the construction of the Ram Mandir, it was a fight in court and keeping in mind the beliefs of people, the locks of the temple (disputed site) were opened. When he (Rajiv Gandhi) came out he gave a speech that this country runs according to the Constitution and whatever happened in the court would be acceptable to all. Ultimately, the verdict that the court gave after years of fight was accepted and welcomed by all… those in power have simply followed the court order and there is no question of credit,” Patwari told ThePrint.
Patwari’s appointment as the state Congress chief came ahead of the Lok Sabha elections and after the party’s poor performance in assembly elections held last November.
According to Patwari, he has travelled to 12 districts since being appointed the state Congress chief and there was a mood of “worry and failure” among Congress workers but “not of fear or demotivation”.
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‘BJP fooled people’
With the Congress holding only one of 29 Lok Sabha seats in Madhya Pradesh and the BJP, in power in the state and at the Centre, aggressively working to defeat the party in Chhindwara, Kama Nath’s bastion, Patwari is in charge of giving a tough fight on at least 14 seats in the state.
Giving the poll arithmetic, he told ThePrint: “There are at least 198 assembly seats in MP (from a total of 230) where the Congress got just two percent less votes than the BJP. These seats come together and constitute the Lok Sabha seats. While it appears that the BJP’s winning margin is larger, in reality it is very slim. There are at least 14 Lok Sabha seats where the difference between Congress and BJP votes is between 10,000 and 12,000. I believe that in the Lok Sabha, we will share 50 percent seats with the BJP.”
Reflecting on the poor performance of the party in the assembly elections, Patwari accepted that there was failure on the part of the Congress but also accused the BJP of misleading voters.
“The BJP fooled people by deputing senior leaders of different communities, making each of their communities believe that either of them could become the CM. For the Kirar community, there was Shivraj Singh Chouhan, for the Thakurs there was Narendra Singh Tomar, for the Lodhis, there was Prahlad Patel. They called this their political smartness and part of strategy but in reality, it was outsmarting of voters,” he claimed.
“We failed to access it and failed to set our own narrative. The BJP was successful in setting its narrative of cheating, cunningness, falsehood and illusion,” he added.
Patwari also accused the BJP of misusing government machinery by starting Ladli Behna scheme ahead of state elections and promising to increase financial aid under it to Rs 3,000 per month if voted back to power.
Under the scheme, women in the 23-60 age group get Rs 1,000 per month if they are not income tax payees and the annual income of their families is less than Rs 2.5 lakh annually.
“These promises were made by (former Madhya Pradesh CM) Shivraj Singh Chouhan, and he is no more on the scene,” said Patwari, adding that now with Mohan Yadav as new CM, the scheme was taking its final breaths.
‘We will work on our issues’
Even as the BJP is taking the Ram temple celebrations to each household ahead of the general elections, Patwari maintained that there was no need for the Congress to counter the BJP’s strategy.
“We will ask why haven’t you given employment to two crore people? The houses to which they are taking these celebrations, inflation there has risen three-fold. People are not able to have two square meals properly. Every family is giving Goods and Services Tax (GST) of Rs 200-300 to the government and when someone from the family falls to do so, they have to sell their property (for medical treatment). The houses to which they (BJP) are going and celebrating, youth from those very houses are unemployed,” he said.
“We will work on our issues. As far as Ram is concerned, we have said ‘kan kan mein hai Ram…mann mann mein hai Ram…lekin rajneeti mein nahin hai Ram (there is Ram in every heart and soul, but not in politics)”.
Asked about the Congress issuing a show-cause notice to its own spokesperson Alok Sharma over his allegation that former CM Kamal Nath had “an understanding with the BJP”, Patwari dismissed Sharma’s charge as “motivated to hit the headlines”.
Defending Nath, he said: “I want to ask, can a man who is a CM candidate join hands (with the BJP)?”
“I find it absolutely pointless to discuss such things and answer them…Kamal Nath’s ties with the Gandhi family are decades-old and he fought the election with complete confidence,” Patwari said, adding that “there certainly has been failure but it was not deliberate”.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
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