On Tuesday, Rahul Gandhi took a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi by claiming that Ram Mandir opening ceremony in Ayodhya was Modi’s function.
Speaking to reporters amid the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, Gandhi said, “The RSS and the BJP have made the 22nd January function a completely political Narendra Modi function. I believe the Congress president’s statement that he would not attend the event was motivated by the fact that it is an RSS BJP function.”
“We are open to all religions, all practices. 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,” Rahul Gandhi said.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, former party president Sonia Gandhi, and leader of the party in the Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury have turned down the invitation for the January 22 temple consecration ceremony, accusing the BJP of making it into a “political project” for electoral gains.
On Makar Sankranti, the party’s Uttar Pradesh unit continued to observe its scheduled prayers in the holy city.
On January 15, Ajay Rai, the chief of the Uttar Pradesh Congress, along with other party leaders, took a sacred plunge in the Saryu River in Ayodhya.
