Rahul Gandhi, a Congress member, criticized the Ram temple consecration ceremony on Tuesday, characterizing it as a political event hosted by Narendra Modi.
“The 22nd January function has turned into a fully political Narendra Modi event, thanks to the efforts of the BJP and RSS. I believe the Congress President’s statement that he would not attend the event was motivated by the fact that it is an RSS BJP function. During a press conference held in Kohima, the capital of Nagaland, during his Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, Gandhi declared, “We are open to all religions and all practices.”
Even the most prominent representatives of the Hindu religion have publicly expressed their opinions that the 22nd of January is a political event. Therefore, it is challenging for us to attend a political event that is centered on the Indian Prime Minister and the RSS, Gandhi continued.
Gandhi made his remarks a few days after the Congress announced that Mallikarjun Kharge, the party’s leader, former president Sonia Gandhi, and Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, the Cong floor leader in the Lok Sabha, would not be attending the “Pran Pratishtha” ceremony. The Congress had said in a statement that “it has been evidently brought forward for electoral gain that the leaders of the [ruling] BJP [Bharatiya Janata Party] and [its ideological fountainhead] the RSS [Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh] inaugurate the incomplete temple.”The ‘Pran Pratishtha’ ceremony’s seven-day rituals got underway on Tuesday. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will preside over the main consecration ceremony on January 22. Prominent saints, actors, businesspeople, and athletes will all be present at the lavish event..”The ‘anushthan’ has begun and will run through January 22, the day of the ceremony of consecration. Chief priest Acharya Satyendra Das of the Ram temple told PTI that eleven priests are carrying out the rites that invoke all of the “devis and devtas” (goddesses and gods).