On Cong declining Ram Mandir event invite, BJP invokes Nehru

The Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday slammed the Congress after it declined the invitation to attend the Ayodhya Ram temple's ‘Pran Pratishtha’ ceremony on January 22.

Invoking India's first prime minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, BJP spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi said,"This is Nehru's Congress, this is not Gandhi's Congress. Mahatma Gandhi used to sing 'Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram' and today Congress is not attending the 'pran pratishtha' ceremony. This shows Congress is against Hindu religion and Hindutva."

Continuing his attack, Trivedi added,"Congress didn't issue any statement for 10 days after the 1998 Pokharan nuclear test, which was carried out during the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government."

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"They (Congress) also refused to participate in Bharat Ratna ceremony of Pranab Mukherjee, who was a member of their party. It is because of this boycott mentality, the public has been boycotting them," the BJP MP said at the party's briefing.

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The BJP has lashed out at the Congress after it announced that party president Mallikarjun Kharge, former chief Sonia Gandhi and Lok Sabha leader of House Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury will not attend the consecration ceremony of the Ram temple. The grand old party went on to dub the ceremony as a ‘BJP/RSS event’.

In a statement, the Congress said,"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."

Several BJP leaders have hit out at the Congress over its latest stand on the event. “Congress party's anti-Lord Ram face is before the nation. It is no surprise that under the leadership of Sonia Gandhi, the party that had filed an affidavit before the court that Lord Ram is a fictional character, its leadership declined the invitation to the 'pranpratishtha' of Ram Temple,” Union minister Smriti Irani said on Wednesday.

“Under the leadership of Sonia Gandhi and Congress, INDI Alliance has insulted Sanatan Dharma again and again. Now, the declining of the invitation to the 'pranpratishtha' by leaders of the INDI Alliance reflects their anti-Sanatan mindset,” she added.

(With agency inputs)