What Can the Congress Learn From Pran Pratishtha of Ram Lalla at Ayodhya?
The need for political programs for mobilisation, community building and expression of one’s identity
I have written about the need for political programs in almost every article about the Congress Party. Vision and ideology unless concretised through political programs will remain in the realm of the abstract and will be unable to connect with a large chunk of the electorate. Political programs also enable political parties to build and renew organisation and provide visibility to its functionaries. And finally, political programs connect the party organisation with people while providing people with a source of community and identity. Given the above, it is evident that political programs are the lifeblood of any political party.
The BJP understands and excels at this. The run-up to the pran pratishtha of Ram Lalla at Ayodhya is a masterclass in mass political programs. While of course, the Prime Minister is at the center of the actual program, but the programmatic agenda has created space for national mobilisation, community building and expression of one’s identity. Consider, for instance, this advertisement for the Ram Lalla Pran Pratishtha Ceremony which appeared in many newspapers last week. While announcing the Ceremony, the announcement also exhorts the people to “make our village/locality/colony Ram Mayi” through six specific activities, most of which are easily accessible and doable by a common person. These activities range from the simple lighting of five diyas outside one’s home or place of work to congregating at the neighborhood temple to pray and watch the pran pratishtha program. In the days preceding the actual program, Bhagwan Ram flags flooded traffic intersections and neighborhoods thus providing a visible marker of people’s identity and affiliation.
This morning I saw cars lined up outside the community center where people came together to watch the ceremony. Thereafter there was a bhandara with food and prasad distribution. Cars and houses were dotted with Bhagwan Ram flags. For an ordinary person, this provided not just an outlet for religiosity but also an expression of identity and community. The Ceremony gave the local BJP functionaries visibility and helped them identify active supporters in the neighborhood. And the Ceremony itself - telecast on televisions and large LCD screens in homes and neighborhoods around the country - allowed a fusion of the identities of Prime Minister Modi with Bhagwan Ram.
This is not the first time that the Prime Minister has deployed political programs for mass participation. Taking up a broom to shuffle some dirt here and there for Swachh Bharat. Clapping and banging thaalis to show appreciation for doctors and others at the frontline during the pandemic. Many in the Opposition responded with withering scorn, denouncing this as tokenism while making fun of those who participated enthusiastically. But the activity had nothing to do with fighting Covid and was instead an exercise in collective mobilization and community building. The disparagement and seeming negativity without providing an alternative outlet for people’s emotions of fear and uncertainty at the time was unlikely to have engendered support outside of those already critical of the Government.
As I was walking around in my neighborhood, I was hard pressed to think of a single political program by the Congress Party that similarly empowered its workers while providing its supporters a visible sense of identity and community. Mahatma Gandhi linked spinning the charkha with the national freedom movement and self-reliance and allowed ordinary people to participate in the freedom movement. Bharat Jodo Yatra is the Congress Party’s largest mass contact program in a long time but it is not necessarily geared towards decentralised action by party workers and supporters. Picking fights with RWA uncles in local Whatsapp groups about the real or alleged failures of the BJP Government is not a political program and nor does it build the Party organization. People want to feel good about themselves, belong and be part of something bigger than themselves. The pran pratishtha program provided this in good measure to large numbers of BJP supporters. The Congress Party must think of programs which can do the same for its own workers and supporters.
Also Read:
