Politics and religion are closely knit together in India. Since, Independence political parties tried to lure the section of people belonging to a particular religion. There are various religion-centric political parties operating at regional and state level in India. Even the national parties, especially Congress have exploited religious symbols for their electoral gains. The Congress party is well known for appeasing Muslims and time and again they have shown more loyalty towards Muslims than towards its nation. On the other hand the BJP is known as Hindu Nationalist Party which promotes the Nationalism and work upon concerns of Hindus. The Left parties have failed to make any vast nationwide presence mainly because of two reasons, firstly because of impracticality and absurdity of their ideology and secondly, due to their rejection of religion. They failed to realize that unlike in the western countries, in India religion is important for the people. However, time and again Leftists have married with Islamists and taken a anti-Hindu stance and because of such double-standard leftists are losing their ground rapidly in Indian politics and the BJP because of their pro-Hindu stance is gaining acceptance even in those parts of the country where it never had any presence.
In order to counter the BJP which is quickly gaining clout in Kerala, the Congress and the Communists had planned to organize Ramayana readings. The Left and the INC thought that this would stop the rise of the BJP in Kerala and prevent the Hindus whom they have oppressed and subjugated for years would not shift towards the BJP.
The Communists went ahead with their plans and celebrated Ramayana readings and ended up becoming a joke in the social media. However, CPM denied any direct involvement in the event.
There was stiff resistance within the alleged Muslim party that is the INC party and later they ended up scrapping the plan to organize the Ramayana readings. Earlier, the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee cultural wing called Vichar Vibhag, and later announced to organize Ramayana readings especially on describing how the principal of “Ram Rajya” is very close to their icon Mahatma Gandhi’s idea of good governance. The event was supposed to be inaugurated on Tuesday by Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala. The senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor was also suppose to participate in a key talk on Ramayana. But then at the end the Congress party cancelled the plan.
According to a Times of India report, former state Congress president K. Muraleedharan said, “It is not something that the Congress party needs to do. Ours is a secular party where members of different beliefs co-exist. It is the duty of communal organizations to organize religious programmes, not that of a political party. It is what the BJP is practicing. We shouldn’t do the same. We need to devise a different strategy to take them on.” The Congress working president M.M. Hassan on Sunday informed about the cancellation of the event. He said, “It was an independent cultural body associated to the party which decided to observe Ramayana month, not the party. However, since many leaders have expressed their reservations against it, I have asked them to cancel the event.” Other congress leaders like Pandalam Sudhakaran, V.M. Sudheeran and even state Congress spokesperson Rajmohan Unnithan criticized the plan to organize Ramayana readings.
The congress is the same party which hosts Iftar parties but when it comes to celebrate something related to Hinduism, they backed out. It cements what Rahul Gandhi has allegedly said that Congress is a Muslim party, and Sam Pitroda unnecessarily targeted the temples.
The Congress party is trying their level best to appease their core vote bank, the Muslims, ahead of the 2019 General elections. This move by Congress proves that it is trying to polarize and communalize the things again.