Damned if you do, damned if you don’t. Perhaps nothing exemplifies that awkward position between a rock and a hard place that the Indian opposition finds itself in more than the Ram Temple inauguration next week.
The Congress declined the invitation to attend the ceremony in Ayodhya on the 22nd of January, stating that the inauguration of the incomplete temple by the leaders of the BJP and the RSS “has been obviously brought forward for electoral gain.”
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The Congress declined the invitation to attend the ceremony in Ayodhya on the 22nd of January, stating that the inauguration of the incomplete temple by the leaders of the BJP and the RSS “has been obviously brought forward for electoral gain.”
Read the full story here: https://gulfnews.com/opinion/op-eds/on-ram-mandir-indian-opposition-walks-a-tightrope-1.100513034
See more videos at https://gulfnews.com/videos
Read more Gulf News stories here: https://bit.ly/2HLJ2km
Subscribe to Gulf News on YouTube and watch more of our videos: https://www.youtube.com/user/GulfNewsTV
#UAEnews #India #RamTemple
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NewsTranscript
00:00Damned if you do, damned if you don't.
00:07That pretty much sums up the opposition's dilemma about whether or not to accept the
00:10Ram Temple inauguration invitation on the 22nd of January.
00:15In the end, the India Alliance decided to stay away, and that's probably the wise thing
00:19to do because the event is clearly a political one for the BJP ahead of the general election.
00:25But it's also a risky strategy, because to be called or to be perceived as anti-Hindu
00:30in today's India is something that could politically backfire.
00:34And that's why you see that opposition parties are really walking a tightrope on this one.
00:38So the Congress, for instance, even though it has officially decided to stay away, many
00:42of its leaders are going to go in their individual capacity.
00:47There are state units, for example, in Madhya Pradesh that are doing their own events in
00:51the run-up to the Ram Temple inauguration, like a bike rally to Ayodhya, amongst other
00:56things.
00:57And then you have other opposition leaders like Mamata Banerjee or like Uddhav Thackeray,
01:01who have already announced that they'll be going to different temples on that day.
01:05Mamata Banerjee is also doing a multi-faith procession.
01:07Arvind Kejriwal has said that he's going to go to the Ram Temple in Ayodhya after the
01:1322nd ceremony is over and go with his family.
01:17So there is this tightrope and this dilemma that opposition leaders are facing at the
01:22moment.
01:23But when it comes to the issue of Hindutva, of Hindu nationalism, it's clear that this
01:28is an issue that is a big advantage for the BJP ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.
01:33It will be interesting to see how the opposition is able to spin it to voters.