Congress leaders, including Mallikarjun Kharge, Sonia Gandhi and Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury will not attend the Ram Temple consecration ceremony in Ayodhya. The decision was widely criticised by BJP, who said that there was nothing new in Congress’s stand.
New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday lashed out at the Congress after its senior leaders, including All India Congress Committee (AICC) chief Mallikarjun Kharge, Sonia Gandhi and Congress leader in the Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, declined the invitation to attend Ram Mandir consecration ceremony in Ayodhya on January 22.
Hitting out at the Congress, the BJP said that there was nothing new in the party’s stand and its allies have been regularly ‘insulting’ Hindus and Sanatana Dharma. The BJP even claimed that the Congress would face a “boycott” from the people of India for its decision.
Meanwhile, announcing the decision of Congress in an official communique, party general secretary Jairam Ramesh questioned the motive behind the inauguration of the “incomplete” temple by the leaders of the BJP and the RSS.
“Lord Ram is worshipped by millions in our country. Religion is a personal matter. But the RSS/BJP have long made a political project of the temple in Ayodhya. The inauguration of the incomplete temple by the leaders of the BJP and the RSS has been obviously brought forward for electoral gain,” he said.
“While abiding by the 2019 Supreme Court judgment and honouring the sentiments of millions who revere Lord Ram, Mallikarjun Kharge, Sonia Gandhi and Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury have respectfully declined the invitation to what is clearly an RSS/BJP event,” the Congress said.
BJP leader and Union minister Smriti Irani called the Congress “anti-Ram” over its leaders’ decision to not attend the mega event in Ayodhya on January 22.
“Congress party’s anti-Lord Ram face is before the nation. It is no surprise that under the leadership of Sonia Gandhi, the party that had filed an affidavit before the court that Lord Ram is a fictional character, its leadership declined the invitation to the ‘pran-pratishtha’ of Ram Temple,” Smriti Irani said.
“Under the leadership of Sonia Gandhi and Congress, INDI Alliance has insulted ‘Sanatana Dharma’ again and again. Now, the declining of the invitation to the ‘pran-pratishtha’ by leaders of the INDI Alliance reflects their anti-Sanatana mindset,” she said while speaking to reporters.
Meanwhile, BJP national spokesperson Nalin Kohli said that Congress’s decision comes as no surprise because, over the last few decades, it really took no steps to see that there should be a temple in Ayodhya. “They are saying they won’t be there is part of what they have always believed. They didn’t want a temple there,” he added.
Former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister and senior BJP leader Shivraj Singh Chouhan said that Congress rejecting the pran-pratishtha invitation is like rejecting the identity of the country.