In the grey world of politics, invitations can transcend the realm of courtesy. This is because attending or skipping an event is often loaded with political and ideological significan­ce. The responses of some members of the Op­position who have been recipients of the invitation to the forthcoming inauguration of the Ram temple point to the political factors at play. Mamata Banerjee and Sonia Gandhi, the leaders of the Trinamul Congress and the Congress, respectively, have not made it clear whether they are likely to grace the occasion. It is possible that they are anxious about the Bharatiya Janata Party utilising their presence at the inauguration for political gain in an election year. The Communist Party of India (Marxist), however, has made no bones ab­out its reservations. Commenting on Sitaram Ye­chury’s decision to decline the invitation, the po­litburo, refreshingly, did not seek refuge in ambiguity. On the contrary, it made it clear that it stood against the exploitation of religion as a political instrument and accused the BJP and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh of attempting to transform a religious ceremony into an ostensibly State event. The CPI(M) has a point. The presence of the prime minister, the face of the government, along with other political dignitaries is likely to blur the lines that are meant to separate a religi­ous function from a State ceremony. The constitu­tional and legal spirit buttresses the politburo’s charge. In the constitutional template of governance, the State, as underlined by the Constitution and reiterated by the nation’s highest court, cannot have an expressly religious character. Jawaharlal Nehru, a staunch votary of the prin­ci­ple of secularism, had opposed gubernatorial at­tempts to involve the public exchequer and em­bassies in festivities related to the Somnath tem­ple.

What is singular about the new republic is that this principle emphasising the insularity of the State from the Church has little political purchase. The BJP has reaped electoral dividends by politicising the Ram mandir: its inauguration is being curated by the party with the general elections in mind. The perverse triumph of religiosity in politics has meant that most political parties in India are interested in flirting with benign or rabid forms of majoritarianism. The Congress’s espousal of soft Hindutva in the recent elections in Madhya Pradesh is a case in point. It is heartening to note that the Left, an electoral lightweight at the moment, refuses to swim with the tide. Politics should ideally be a matter of principle.