Clarion India
NEW DELHI – The Congress party has said that Sonia Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge, and Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury will not attend the Ram Mandir event held by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and RSS in Ayodhya on January 22.
The three top leaders of the grand old party were individually sent invitations by the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust to attend the event.
The party stated that the Ram Temple was made a “political project of the BJP and the RSS”, and the decision to inaugurate an “incomplete temple” was not in line with Congress’s principles.
The statement also emphasized that the consecration event has “clearly” become an RSS/BJP event.
“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,” a statement issued by INC general secretary Jairam Ramesh said.
The statement also said that the party abides by the 2019 Supreme Court judgment and “honors the sentiments of millions who revere Lord Ram.”
