‘BJP, RSS eyeing poll gain’: Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge decline Ram Mandir invite

Tribune News Service

Shubhadeep Choudhury

New Delhi, January 10

The Congress on Wednesday said Sonia Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge and Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury would not attend the Ram Mandir inauguration on January 22, ending speculation about the party stance amid contradictory opinions coming from INDIA bloc partners.

The decision was announced by Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh, who also questioned the motive behind the inauguration of the “incomplete” temple by 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,” Ramesh said in a statement.

While CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury has been the first among INDIA bloc leaders to decline the invitation over the “politicisation of religion”, Hemant Soren, Jharkhand Chief Minister and chief of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, also a constituent of the INDIA bloc, has said he would like to attend the event if invited.

Vikramaditya Singh, Himachal minister and son of PCC chief Pratibha Singh, has also confirmed his participation and thanked the VHP and RSS for sending him the invitation. In contrast, Trinamool supremo Mamata Banerjee has said the Ram Temple event is a “gimmick show”.

Jairam Ramesh, talking to reporters at the AICC headquarters here today, said while individual Congress leaders were free to attend the event, the decision taken by Kharge and Sonia Gandhi would reflect the party’s stand on the issue.

In a stinging comment, BJP leader Smriti Irani said, “The Congress party’s anti-Lord Rama face is before the nation. It is no surprise that the Sonia Gandhi-led party that had filed an affidavit before the court saying Lord Rama was a fictional character has now declined the invitation to the ‘pranpratishtha’. INDIA bloc has insulted Sanatan Dharma again and again. The decision to not accept the invite also reflects their anti-Sanatan mindset.”

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