New Delhi: Hours after Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra issued a statement endorsing the Ram Mandir bhoomi pujan Tuesday, the Uttar Pradesh Congress has gone on an overdrive to portray her as a proponent of Ram Mandir.
Mamta Choudhary, the president of Uttar Pradesh Mahila Congress, tweeted a video with Gandhi’s quotes from the statement playing next to her image.
The image is an old picture of Gandhi where she has folded her hands, has a tika on her forehead and a marigold garland around her neck — with the Ram Mandir model in the background.
राम सबके हैं और सबका कल्याण चाहते है ।#राम_नाम_सुखदाई pic.twitter.com/X2f1xCxrI4
— Mamta Choudhary (@iMamtaChoudhary) August 4, 2020
One of the quotes from Gandhi’s statement played in the video is: “Bhagwan Ram ki kripa se yeh karyakram unke sandesh ko prasarit karne wala rashtriya ekta, bandhutva, aur sanskratik samagam ka karyakram bane (Let Lord Ram shower his blessing so that this function becomes a celebration of national unity, fraternity and cultural affinity)”.
'राम सबके हैं – राम सबमें है' pic.twitter.com/KgrBRCRUPL
— Mamta Choudhary (@iMamtaChoudhary) August 4, 2020
Dheeraj Gurjar, the AICC national secretary and co-incharge of UP Congress, tweeted Gandhi’s statement, adding that “Ram Mandir’s construction will get its grandeur and completion soon”.
राम मेरे है, आपके है, हम सबके है, देश के कण कण में है
राम मन्दिर का निर्माण अपनी भव्यता ओर पूर्णता जल्द प्राप्त होगा https://t.co/JOJcfWmHN1— Dheeraj Gurjar (@dgurjarofficial) August 4, 2020
Gandhi’s quotes on Ram temple next to her image are also being circulated by the UP Congress on WhatsApp groups.
A series of Congress leaders have also come out in support of the Ram Mandir bhoomi pujan — the latest being former Union minister Manish Tewari, who put out a video, humming lines from the famous bhajan ‘Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram’.
भगवान रामचन्द्र जी महाराज के भूमी पूजन के शुभ अफसर पर सब वैष्णव जनो और महनुभवों को कोटी कोटी बधाई pic.twitter.com/R00cfIWwu0
— Manish Tewari (@ManishTewari) August 4, 2020
Former Madhya Pradesh chief minister and Congress leader Kamal Nath has also said the state Congress will be sending 11 silver bricks for the Ram Mandir construction.
ThePrint had reported how many senior Congress leaders, such as Digvijaya Singh, Salman Khurshid and Anil Shastri, were upset over not being extended an invite for the ceremony.
“The way the invitations have been sent, it has been done in order for BJP to steal the credit for this entirely,” Singh had said.
The former MP CM also questioned the timing of the ceremony, urging Prime Minister Narendra Modi to put it off, insisting that the timing is “inauspicious”.
Also read: Soil for Ram Mandir construction angers Jharkhand tribals, VHP blames Christian missionaries
Ram sabke hain: Priyanka
Gandhi in her statement, issued earlier Tuesday, said, “Ram sabke hain (Ram belongs to everyone)”.
“Bhagwan Ram, Mata Sita and Ramayan have been highlighted in our religious and cultural texts for thousands of years,” she said.
Gandhi also invoked several poets from the past as well as Mahatama Gandhi.
“Ram belongs to Sabari, Sugriva too. Ram belongs to Valmiki and also to Bhasa. Ram belongs to Kamban and to Eshutachchan. Ram belongs to Kabir, Tulsidas belongs to Raidas,” Gandhi wrote.
“Gandhi’s Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram… Waris Ali Shah’s Jo Rab hai Wohi Ram Hai… Ram is everyone’s,” she added.
Also read: Somnath, Akshardham & now Ram Mandir — Gujarat family designing temples for 15 generations