The Congress on Wednesday said its veterans former chief Sonia Gandhi and current chief Mallikarjun Kharge will not attend the Ram Temple event on January 22.
“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,” said Congress.
“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,” the statement further read.
The temple stands where the Babri Masjid, which was torn down by a mob of Hindu nationalists on 6 December, 1992, earlier stood. The construction began after the Supreme Court of India on 9 November 2019 ordered the entire land to be allocated for the temple, granting amnesty to the perpetrators of the mosque demolition.
