Himachal Pradesh minister Vikramaditya Singh on Monday changed his stand and said he will visit the Ayodhya shrine "whenever I feel like". The change in stance came a week after announcing that he would attend the consecration ceremony at the Ram temple on January 22.
The change comes soon after the party brass announced on January 10 that All India Congress Committee president Mallikarjun Kharge and senior leader Sonia Gandhi declined the invite to the consecration ceremony.
Pratibha Singh, the state Congress president and the minister's mother, had commended Prime Minister Narendra Modi for taking the initiative of getting the temple built. Pratibha Singh and her son received a joint invitation to the ceremony in Ayodhya.
On Monday, the minister said, "The party high command has specified that everyone is free to visit the temple whenever they want as religion and faith have nothing to do with politics and therefore, we will definitely visit the temple. I will not say that I will go on January 22 but will go whenever I feel like it."
"We are hardworking workers of the Congress and the ideology of the Congress is our ideology which is different from the BJP and RSS," he said, addressing mediapersons here.
"If one does not have faith and a pious heart and is visiting the temple on January 22 just to show off, then it's not worth it," the minister said.
"Not only Ram Mandir, but we will visit every temple in the country whenever possible," he added.
On January 8, Vikramaditya Singh had said he would attend the consecration ceremony and also expressed his gratitude to the RSS and the Vishva Hindu Parishad for the invitation.
"This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be a part of this historic day and as a Hindu having faith in 'Dev Samaj', it is my responsibility to be present on the occasion and witness the 'pran pratishtha' of Lord Ram," he had added.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and more than 6,000 people are expected to attend the January 22 consecration ceremony of the Ram temple. The temple trust has also invited 4,000 seers from across the country and 50 guests from foreign countries.
Speaking to reporters, Vikramaditya Singh also said, "It was the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi who had ordered to open the gates of the Ram temple in 1989... We have immense faith in Lord Ram and do not need a certificate from the BJP and RSS to be a Hindu".
On January 10, Vikramaditya Singh was divested of the youth services and sports department as part of a cabinet expansion.
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