New Delhi: The Congress is facing dissent over the top leadership’s decision to decline the invitation to the 22 January consecration ceremony of the Ram temple in Ayodhya.
Several party leaders made their views clear on social media on the Congress’s stand to not attend the ceremony.
While Uttar Pradesh Congress leader Pramod Krishnam termed the decision as “unfortunate” and “suicidal”, senior Congress functionaries from Gujarat called it “disappointing”.
The Congress Wednesday issued a statement saying that party chief Mallikarjun Kharge, former party chief Sonia Gandhi and Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, who had been invited to the ceremony, had declined to attend as the “temple was a political project of the RSS and BJP”.
The party alleged that the BJP, in power at the Centre, and its ideological parent RSS had “brought forward the inauguration of the incomplete temple for electoral gain”.
Sharing the Congress statement on social media, Gujarat Congress working president Ambarish Der wrote on X: “Such statements are disappointing for Gujarat Congress workers like me.”
“It is natural that the faith of countless people across India has been attached to this newly-constructed temple over the years. Some people of the Congress party should maintain distance from that particular kind of statement and respect the public sentiment wholeheartedly,” Der added.
मर्यादा पुरूषोत्तम भगवान श्री राम हमारे आराध्य देव हैं इसलिए यह स्वाभाविक है कि भारत भर में अनगिनत लोगों की आस्था इस नवनिर्मित मंदिर से वर्षों से जुड़ी हुई है।@INCIndia के कुछ लोगों को उस खास तरह के बयान से दूरी बनाए रखनी चाहिए और जनभावना का दिल से सम्मान करना चाहिए। (1/2) pic.twitter.com/elzFFyRHoe
— Ambarish Der (@Ambarish_Der) January 10, 2024
Former Gujarat Congress chief and Porbandar MLA Arjun Modhwadia took to X to say that the party should have stayed away from taking such “political decisions”.
“This is a matter of faith and belief of the people of the country,” he said.
भगवान श्री राम आराध्य देव हैं।
यह देशवासियों की आस्था और विश्वास का विषय है। @INCIndia को ऐसे राजनीतिक निर्णय लेने से दूर रहना चाहिए था। pic.twitter.com/yzDTFe9wDc
— Arjun Modhwadia (@arjunmodhwadia) January 10, 2024
Krishnam asserted that to think the Ram Mandir was of the BJP or RSS or VHP “is unfortunate”.
Saying that crores of party workers, including his own self, had been left heartbroken by the Congress leaders’ stand, he claimed alleged that “some people” had played a role in the decision.
#WATCH | Congress rejects Ram temple invitation, party leader Acharya Pramod Krishnam says, "Congress is not against Lord Ram and Hindus. Sadly, some people who have played a role in the party taking this decision. This decision has broken the hearts of many party workers. This… pic.twitter.com/635kOOmaR4
— ANI (@ANI) January 10, 2024
Himachal Pradesh minister and Congress leader Vikramaditya Singh has decided to attend the event, while “thanking the RSS and Vishwa Hindu Parishad” for inviting him.
“I am blessed to be one of the few people in Himachal who have received an invitation for the ‘pran pratishtha’ on 22nd. I want to thank the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and Vishwa Hindu Parishad for giving me and my family this respect and invitation… when the honourable prime ministerji (Narendra Modi) will also be there,” Singh said to the media Thursday.
He added that it was his duty as a “sanatani” and “Hindu” to be present and witness the “historic day”.
Also Read: How BJP, VHP & RSS are mobilising people across India for Ram Lalla’s pran pratishtha in Ayodhya
‘Will regret if they don’t go’
Dissenting voices from within the Congress are coming at a time when it’s under attack from the BJP.
BJP MP Sudhanshu Trivedi, at a press conference Thursday, alleged that “this (decline of invitation) shows that the Congress is against Indian culture, Hindu religion and Hindutva”.
He added that “this is (Jawaharlal) Nehru’s Congress, this is not (Mahatma) Gandhi’s Congress”.
Speaking to the media, Union minister Giriraj Singh termed the Congress leaders as “seasonal Hindus”, while another Union minister, Smriti Irani, said the party’s “anti-Lord Ram face” was before the nation.
“It is no surprise that under the leadership of Sonia Gandhi, the party that had filed an affidavit before court that Lord Ram is a fictional character, its leadership declined the invitation to the consecration ceremony,” she said.
“INDIA alliance (of which the Congress is part) has insulted Sanatana Dharma again and again. Now, the decline of the invitation… by leaders of the alliance reflects their anti-Sanatana Dharma mindset,” she added.
BJP leader and minister Anurag Thakur too joined the chorus, saying that after the Congress’ decision, the “people of India will also boycott them (the party) in the coming future”.
Union minister Hardeep Puri told the media that the Congress “will regret if they don’t go”.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
Also Read: After backlash over ‘request’ not to attend Ram Mandir inauguration, Advani & Joshi receive invite