Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma took a jibe at the Congress party on Thursday over the latter’s refusal to attend the Ram Temple consecration ceremony on January 22. He said the Congress has missed a golden opportunity to reduce its sins. He also said the party didn’t deserve the invitation.
“The VHP had given the Congress party a golden opportunity to reduce its sin by extending their leadership an invitation to attend the Shri Ram Mandir Pran Pratishtha Mahotsava. Although, in my humble view, they did not deserve such an invitation at the first place for their views against the Ram Mandir from the very beginning,” Sarma said.
The Congress on Wednesday called the inauguration an “RSS/BJP event” and accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) of making the event a political project for electoral gains.
“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,” the party’s statement read.
“However, like Pt Nehru did with the Somnath Temple, the Congress leadership did the same with the Ram Temple. History will continue to judge them as an anti-Hindu party.”
The Congress party’s announcement ended weeks of speculation on whether the party leaders would attend the Ram Temple inauguration ceremony, which has been a part of the BJP’s electoral manifesto for decades and is expected to be a major plank for the party in the 2024 poll campaign.The three leaders join West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee and Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary Sitaram Yechury who have already declined the invitation.
