Chiechama: Congress MP Rahul Gandhi has said that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh have made the inauguration of the Ram Temple on January 22 a “political Narendra Modi function”, making it difficult for the Congress to participate in it.
Addressing his first press conference during the ongoing Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra which entered its third day on Tuesday, Gandhi did not answer whether he would visit the Ram Temple during the yatra.
“The RSS and the BJP have made the January 22 function a political Narendra Modi function. It has become a RSS-BJP function. That is why Congress president (Mallikarjun Kharge) said that he won’t go to the function,” he said to reporters in Chiechama, Nagaland. “We are open to all religions and practices. Even the authorities of the Hindu religion have made their view public of what they think of the January 22 function. It is difficult for us to go to a function designed around the prime minister,” he said. Earlier this month, the Congress in a statement announced that party president Mallikarjun Kharge, former party president Sonia Gandhi and leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Choudhury will not be attending the grand inauguration ceremony of the Ram Temple presided over by Modi next week, calling it a “BJP-RSS event”. –Agencies
