1.#Opinion : Sunday, 31 Dec 2023. 06:00. 3383./ / 1.#NEWS UPDATES: BJP rolls out the Ayodhya welcome mat. Opposition walks into the boycott trap: Opinion: Sourav Roy Barman: (Edited by Prashant) The Print. ///

 

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1.#Opinion : Sunday, 31 Dec 2023. 06:00. 3383./ /

1.#NEWS UPDATES: BJP rolls out the Ayodhya welcome mat. Opposition walks into the boycott trap: Opinion: Sourav Roy Barman: (Edited by Prashant) The Print. ///

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#BJP rolls out the Ayodhya welcome mat. Opposition walks into the boycott trap.

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The Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust’s invitations to leaders of political parties for the consecration ceremony of the Ram temple in Ayodhya on 22 January have caught the Opposition in a severe bind.

While parties, especially the Congress, struggle to craft a response, the BJP is having a field day, with leaders mocking the confusion among the Opposition ranks. The issue, which will likely occupy the centre stage of the BJP’s 2024 campaign, is turning into a political quagmire.

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) has already declined the invitation, asserting that “religion is a personal choice not to be converted into an instrument for political gain”.

Nripendra Mishra, the temple construction committee chief and former principal secretary to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, personally delivered the invitation to the CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury on 23 December. Three days later, the CPI(M) released a statement. “It is most unfortunate that the BJP and RSS have converted a religious ceremony into a State sponsored event directly involving the Prime Minister, the UP Chief Minister and other government functionaries,” it said.

It may have been easier for the CPI(M) to do so, for parties like the Congress, which has a significant presence in the heartland states where Ram Mandir is an intensely emotive issue, responding to the invitation is a tightrope walk. The trust, set up by the Centre to build and manage the temple, has invited Congress leaders, including president Mallikarjun Kharge, parliamentary party chairperson Sonia Gandhi, and the party’s Lok Sabha leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury to the ceremony.

A dilemma for Congress:

Political researcher Asim Ali suggests that the Congress is essentially caught between “two axes”—balancing regional considerations and its evolving caste agenda vis-a-vis its traditional ‘soft’ Hindu nationalist moorings.

“If the Congress takes a conciliatory stand, the CPI(M) might make a play for their Muslim votes in Kerala. The Congress needs to maximise its seats in Kerala again to hope to reach the three digit mark in Lok Sabha. At the same time, taking an opposing stand might hurt it in the Hindi belt,” Ali told ThePrint.

The fact that Muslim voters in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, according to Ali, moved away from the Congress in the late ’80s and early ’90s due to the party’s “strategic ambiguity” on Hindutva must also be weighing on the mind of its leadership. As Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi had allowed the opening of the locks of the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid site and had later permitted the laying of the temple’s foundation stone as well.

During the recent Madhya Pradesh assembly election, Congress’ chief ministerial hopeful Kamal Nath also sought to claim ownership of the Ram temple movement, reminding people, in one of his campaign speeches, of Rajiv Gandhi’s role in opening the locks placed by the Nehru government in 1949 after idols of Ram appeared overnight at the site.

“So does the Congress opt for a clean break now or continue a policy of strategic ambiguity, drawing clear lines of opposition between a ‘progressive’ caste agenda and a ‘regressive’ Hindu nationalist agenda? It will be keenly watched,” Ali said.

On Friday, the Congress leadership’s dilemma was reflected in Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor’s decision not to attend the inauguration ceremony. He said that while the invitees should be “left free to make a personal choice”, by turning it down they run the risk of being described as anti-Hindu. And in the event of them going, they will be blamed for “playing into the BJP’s hands”, Tharoor said.

On Thursday, the Shiv Sena (Udhhav Thackeray faction), which was instrumental in the Mandir movement in the 1990s, also said it will not attend the event. “This is all politics… Who wants to attend an event by the BJP? This is not a national event. This is the BJP’s programme,” MP Sanjay Raut said. He added that party leaders would “definitely visit the temple” after the inauguration.

Among other major INDIA partners, Trinamool Congress and Nationalist Congress Party are also likely to skip the programme. NCP chief Sharad Pawar said on Wednesday that while he is “happy that the temple is coming up for which many have contributed”, he has not yet received an invitation.

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2.#India: Who is CC Thampi, NRI businessman back in spotlight in the case involving Vadras?: WION

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2.#India: Who is CC Thampi, NRI businessman back in spotlight in the case involving Vadras?

© Provided by WION

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Cheruvathur Chekkutty Thamp, a businessman who is a Non-Resident Indian (NRI), is back in the news. This time the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has named Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra in a money laundering case linked to Thampi, 66. According to a report by the news agency ANI on Thursday (Dec 28), the ED's chargesheet named Priyanka, mentioning her role in purchasing agricultural land in Amipur village in Haryana's Faridabad from a Delhi-based real estate agent HL Pahwa in 2006 and selling the same land to Pahwa four years later in February 2010.

Priyanka's husband Robert Vadra also purchased three separate pieces of land from Pahwa from 2005-2006 and sold the same land to him in December 2010. ANI reported Pahwa is the same person who sold land to Thampi. 

The ED had named Robert Vadra in its earlier chargesheet related to the money laundering case as an alleged close aide of Thampi. In its fresh chargesheet, the central agency said that Pahwa was receiving cash out of the books for the acquisition of land. 

Who is CC Thampi?

Cheruvathur Chekkutty Thampi, also known as CC Thampi is a businessman based in Dubai. According to a report by The Indian Express, Thampi hails from Kerala's Thrissur and has been a prominent player in the United Arab Emirates' (UAE) real estate sector since the 1980s. 

Thampi arrived in UAE's Ajman city in the late 1970s. He initially worked in hotels and also did odd jobs. Subsequently, he founded Holiday Constructions which went on to carry out major projects in the UAE.

The report added that the businessman diversified in other sectors including hotels, retail and car rentals. In 2008, he founded an engineering college back home in Thrissur.

The publication also reported with one of his real-estate ventures, he acquired extensive farmlands across India.

Political connections

Over the years, Thampi established a network with politicians in India, especially those with the Congress party and the Gandhi family. The 66-year-old first made headlines in 2009 when the CBI opened a case against him for allegedly securing an All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) approval for his engineering college in Thrissur without meeting the guidelines, The Indian Express report said.

The 2020 arrest

Thampi was arrested in the money laundering case in Jan 2020 but was later released on bail. In a recent statement, the ED said he was a "close associate" of Robert Vadra, the news agency PTI reported.

In 2019, Thampi told the ED he had known Robert Vadra for more than 10 years and the businessman was "initially introduced" to him by Madhavan, the Personal Assistant (PA) to veteran Congress leader Sonia Gandhi.

(With inputs from agencies)

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JAI HIND
JAI BHARATHAM
VANDHE MADHARAM
BHARAT MATHA KI JAI.

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