Opinion Express view on Congress and Ram Mandir: RSVP regrets
Congress does not have a language on Hinduism. Staying away on January 22 follows its dismal pattern of me-too and boycott
Of course, picking up the BJP's political gauntlet is fraught but another response, more imaginative, more political and bold, was possible. But for that, the Congress would need to think and act, not just react to agendas set by the BJP. 
The Congress’s refusal to attend the invitation to the consecration of the Ram temple checks token boxes but fails to make a case. It will not go to Ayodhya on January 22, it says, because religion is a “personal matter” and inauguration of an “incomplete” temple is a “political project” and “an RSS/BJP event” brought forward “for electoral gain”. There is criticism of the RSS and BJP — certainly, that box is ticked. But in this consequential moment, 32 years after the demolition of the Babri Masjid, and following the striking successes of Mandir politics over decades, there is nothing more than just that. India’s main Opposition party has nothing to say to those Hindus who see the temple as an embodiment of their faith, and whom it must also find ways of engaging, if it does not wish to speak only to its dwindling bastions. On the other side, there is no attempt either to invoke secular ideals or constitutional values, to strike a chord among those who share its views on the politicisation of the temple. Even voters who agree will be hard put to draw succour from a Congress statement that seems to be mainly nay-saying, lacking in a conviction that is firm or soaring. The belated and bare-bones RSVP to the Ayodhya invite underlines that Congress, as is its wont of late, is not taking a decision, but being forced to take a decision by the BJP.
As the parliamentary election draws closer, the fact is that Congress does not have a language on Hinduism with which it can go to the people. Over the years, the BJP’s project has visibly pushed it onto the backfoot and against the wall, putting it in a bind it has not managed to think a way out of. There have been far too many vacillations, and few moments of clarity — from 1989-1991 when a Congress government opened the locks and allowed the VHP to do shilanyas at the disputed site, to 2019, when the Congress in Opposition welcomed the Supreme Court ruling that paved the ground for the temple. Sonia Gandhi even said that its labelling by the BJP as a “Muslim party” cost the Congress electorally. And in the electoral fray, senior leaders like Kamal Nath most recently in MP have tried to wear on their sleeves their version of an in-your-face public religiosity. Overall, Congress responses to the BJP have spanned the unremarkable distance between a me-too stance and boycott politics. Its refusal to show up on January 22 confirms this dismal pattern.
Of course, picking up the BJP’s political gauntlet is fraught but another response, more imaginative, more political and bold, was possible. But for that, the Congress would need to think and act, not just react to agendas set by the BJP. It would need to frame an alternative idea and politics, and do the hard political labour of rallying the party behind it, as well as allies in the joint Opposition front. And then, it would need to communicate it to the people in a language that is persuasive, appealing and uplifting. That’s the challenge the Congress has boycotted, not just the upcoming Ayodhya ceremony. Running away isn’t nimble politics.
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