The Congress today announced that it would skip the massive consecration ceremony of the Ayodhya Ram Mandir, saying it was a "political project" of the BJP and its ideological mentor Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. It is "clearly an RSS/BJP event", the party said in a release.
The party said its leaders - Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge, his predecessor Sonia Gandhi, and the party's Lok Sabha leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury - who have been invited to the event, have declined.
Read the full statement here:
Last month, the Congress President and Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Shri Mallikarjun Kharge, Congress Parliamentary Party Chairperson, Smt. Sonia Gandhi and the Leader of the Congress Party in the Lok Sabha Shri Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury received an invitation to attend the inauguration ceremony of the Ram Mandir at Ayodhya to be held on January 22nd, 2024.
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. While abiding by the 2019 Supreme Court judgment and honouring the sentiments of millions who revere Lord Ram, Shri Mallikarjun Kharge, Smt. Sonia Gandhi and Shri Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury have respectfully declined the invitation to what is clearly an RSS/BJP event.
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