Rahul Gandhi’s ‘political Narendra Modi function’ barb at Ram temple consecration ceremony

Congress MP Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday attacked the Ram temple consecration ceremony, calling it a political Narendra Modi function.

“The RSS and the BJP have made the 22nd January function a completely political Narendra Modi function. It’s a RSS BJP function and I think that is why the Congress President said that he would not go to the function. We are open to all religions, all practices,” Gandhi said at a briefing during his Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra in Nagaland’s capital Kohima.

“Even the authorities of the Hindu religion, the biggest authorities of the Hindu religion have made their view public about what they think about the 22nd January function that it is a political function. So it is difficult for us to go to a political function which is designed around the Prime Minister of India and designed around the RSS,” Gandhi added.

Gandhi’s statement comes days after the Congress declined the invitation for the ‘Pran Pratishtha’ ceremony, saying that its party chief Mallikarjun Kharge, former president Sonia Gandhi and Cong floor leader in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury will not attend the event.

In its statement, the Congress had said,“The inauguration of the incomplete temple by the leaders of the [ruling] BJP [Bharatiya Janata Party] and [its ideological fountainhead] the RSS [Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh] has been obviously brought forward for electoral gain.”

The seven-day rituals for the ‘Pran Pratishtha’ ceremony began on Tuesday. The main consecration ceremony will be held on January 22 and will be presided by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The grand event will be attended by prominent saints, celebrities including sportspersons, actors and industrialists.