Thank you for the warning, Rahul Gandhi,’ wrote the Hindutva right-wing magazine Swarajya. Where was the warning? Swarajya took Rahul Gandhi’s claim, “We have defeated the Ram Mandir movement”, as a warning or a challenge, if you will.

The online magazine wrote, "On July 7, 2024, Rahul Gandhi, revealing his political agenda, made the most important statement of his political career: 'The movement started by Lal Krishna Advani, centred on Ayodhya, has been defeated by us in Ayodhya...’”

Swarajya saw a warning in this statement. They also recognised Rahul Gandhi’s ideological intent. They asked, with concern, whether Hindus were listening — and getting the message.

Swarajya is right. Rahul Gandhi’s statement is more an expression of intent than a description of reality. Gandhi said this to a gathering in Ahmedabad after BJP partymen had attacked the Congress office in Ahmedabad. What was he alluding to? What could defeating the ‘Ram Mandir movement’ mean? And how was it done?

Gandhi was referring to the recent Lok Sabha election where the BJP lost the Faizabad Lok Sabha seat, with the INDIA bloc candidate Awadhesh Prasad defeating the BJP’s Lallu Singh, Ayodhya being part of Faizabad constituency. The BJP’s defeat at the hands of a Dalit candidate in Ayodhya — considered the epicentre of Hindutva politics — is highly symbolic, and has forced the party to go on the defensive.

After the election, the Opposition made full use of this in the first session of the 18th Lok Sabha. Awadhesh Prasad sat in the front row between Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav, and both Gandhi and Yadav kept shaking hands with him, taking jabs at the BJP. Prasad’s subtle smile was like a dagger to the BJP MPs’ hearts, the name itself a pinprick of provocation — Awadhesh, after all, is a synonym of Ram.

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© National Herald