The BJP and RSS leaders’ inauguration of the unfinished temple, according to the Congress, was blatantly staged for political advantage. The Congress announced on Wednesday that the party’s leader Mallikarjun Kharge, his predecessor Sonia Gandhi, and the leader of the Lok Sabha, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, had declined an invitation to attend the inauguration of the Ram Mandir on January 22, citing the temple’s incomplete status as a political tool. The leaders of the RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) and the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party), which is in power, inaugurated the incomplete temple “obviously brought forward for electoral gain,” the party said in a statement.
The party further stated that while religion is a matter of personal choice and that millions of people worship Lord Ram, the RSS and BJP have long made a political project out of the Ayodhya temple. Respectfully declining the invitation to an event that is obviously an RSS/BJP event, Smt. Sonia Gandhi, Shri Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, and Shri Mallikarjun Kharge have honored the sentiments of millions of people who revere Lord Ram while adhering to the 2019 Supreme Court judgment [which cleared the way for the temple construction]. The Congress announced on December 31 that three leaders had received invitations to the inauguration and that the party would make an announcement at the appropriate time regarding its acceptance of the invitations.
According to people with knowledge of the situation, some of the leaders supported the Congress’s attendance at the function, while Rahul Gandhi objected, claiming that the construction of the temple was the BJP’s pet project and that the occasion would serve as a power play before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Together with the leaders of the three major political parties, the Congress leader received invitations to the event last month. According to reports, the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust has also extended an invitation to former prime ministers Manmohan Singh and HD Deve Gowda. The grand temple is currently getting ready for the ‘Pran Pratishtha’ of Ram Lalla’s idol on January 22. In 2019, the Ram Janmbhoomi-Babri Masjid case was adjudicated with a landmark Supreme Court decision. The top court had approved the construction of a Ram Temple at the contentious location and mandated that a different five-acre plot be located for the construction of a mosque.
Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh questioned the purpose of the BJP and RSS leaders’ “incomplete” temple’s inauguration in a statement. The invitation to attend the January 22, 2024, inauguration ceremony of the Ram temple in Ayodhya was sent to Congress President and Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Congress Parliament Party Chairperson Gandhi, and Congress Leader in the Lok Sabha, Chowdhary, last month. In our nation, millions of people worship Lord Ram. Religion is a deeply personal topic. However, according to Ramesh, the Ayodhya temple has long been a political project for the RSS and BJP.
