Those who believe, or want to, that the Ayodhya verdict by the Three-Judge Lucknow bench of Allahabad High court was truly an honest attempt to resolve the issue without any political consideration of political outfits, I pray that bliss be their innocence.

Those who believe or want to - that seeing it from a not-so-innocent angle makes it crystal clear that religion, once again, became the victim of politics, this time in the garb of Ayodhya verdict, my empathies are with them.

In the electoral form of politics, polarizations of issues play an extremely important part in maximizing votes. Only emotive issues can perfectly polarize them. Religion, in this case, is an all time favorite and a time-tested “model”.  Sure it must be, because so far, with the exception of Ayodhya verdict, it has never failed to create a frenzy with the perfectly sane crowd.

With this verdict, the Congress Party of India wants to reclaim its lost political ground. By appealing to the senses of both Hindus and Muslims, it is looking for an increase in its political space along the length and breath of country.

To the Hindus, the message has been sent that the judgment came at the time of Congress rule at the centre. This judgment endorsed the majority view and maintains the status quo which the Congress has welcomed. The party hopes that all this would be seen from a favorable angle by non Congress supporters.

On the other hand, it has started sending the message to the Muslim community by tacitly supporting the Sunni Central Waqf Board's decision to appeal against the verdict. It has urged the Muslims to wait for the Supreme Court to decide. It also showed its displeasure by underlining that the judgment did not condone the shameful and criminal act of demolition of the Babri Mosque.

By adopting the strategy of 'head I win, tail you lose', it hopes that Muslims once again would be successfully fooled into believing that Congress is its real savior and a genuinely secular party which cares for its largest minority population.

How successful this strategy will be that only an election can determine. Bihar elections are the nearest, the outcome of which will be for all of us to see. Till then we can wait and watch. But if Congress succeeds in making a mark for itself then it will lead to a new beginning of that same old vicious cycle.