With Acharya Pramod Krishnam's Exit, A Token Hindu Face Of Congress In Uttar Pradesh Is Also Gone

The Congress was anyway struggling to fight off its 'anti-Hindu' tag, especially in northern India. Over the past two days, that struggle turned even more difficult than it was.

Acharya Pramod Krishnam, a Congress leader of the Uttar Pradesh unit of the party, has been expelled from the outfit for six years, on 10 January 2024. In a statement posted online, K C Venugopal, organisational general secretary of the Congress, said that Krishnam has been expelled due to 'indiscipline'.

Reacting to the development, Krishnam thanked the Congress party for relieving him from the responsibilities.

His Comments On Rahul Gandhi And INC

In subsequent interviews, Krishnam made his ongoing criticism of Rahul Gandhi and Congress sharper. He repeated his earlier stance that he was not pleased with Congress' stand on Abrogation of Article 370 and what he termed was Congress's disregard for Sanatana Dharma.

Talking about the party's culture, Krishnam said that people like Sachin Pilot and Priyanka Vadra are not respected in the party. He added that Priyanka Gandhi was given the general secretary post without any portfolio and hinted that she is not happy about it.

He further added that young members of the party have no respect for elder ones and that Congress workers are asked to respect those who neither respect women, nor the country. He also termed Mallikarjun Kharge as a rubber stamp.

A Hindu Face Exits

Krishnam was one of the overtly Hindu faces of the Congress for the Hindi media. His exit makes it that much more difficult for the party in Uttar Pradesh to remove the 'anti-Hindu' label that has stuck on the outfit.

Krishnam is the head of the Shri Kalki Dham, and sports the demeanour and attire like that of a sadhu. With even him criticising the Congress for being 'anti-Hindu', the perception battle for the party becomes immeasurably tougher.

Krishnam's expulsion came at a time when Congress is finding it hard to shed its image as a party which is antithetical to the interests of Hindus. The party was heavily criticised for its decision to not attend the pran pratishtha ceremony of the Ram Mandir.

Krishnam had spoken out against this decision. He also said that there are many like him inside the Congress party who are not happy with the decision.

Even though some leaders of the Uttar Pradesh Congress visited Ayodhya and the Ram Mandir before the 22 January ceremony, that is unlikely to have an effect on the party's image.

To be sure, it is not only its absence at the pran pratishtha ceremony that has earned the Congress an 'anti-Hindu' label. In recent past, it has been its ally in the south, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK).

When DMK leaders spoke about 'eradicating Sanantana Dharma', the Congress response to it was, at best, ambivalent. Party general secretary K C Venugopal said that the party believed in 'Sarva Dharma Sambhava' and all parties have the 'freedom' to share their views.

The Other Reason For Krishnam's Ire

Political observers say that the reasons for Krishnam's displeasure with the Congress could be more practical than ideological.

They speculate that Krishnam was unhappy with the Samajwadi Party (SP), an INDI Alliance member, unilaterally declaring candidates for the Sambhal and Lucknow Lok Sabha constituencies. Both the seats were supposed to have been Krishnam's choices for contesting the election as a Congress candidate.

The SP on 30 January announced that Shafiqur Rahman Barq as its candidate from Sambhal and Ravidas Mehrotra as candidate from Lucknow. Krishnam had unsuccessfully contested the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha elections from Sambhal and Lucknow respectively.