Congress brass declines invite to attend Ram temple ceremony

The Congress on Wednesday said that party chief Mallikarjun Kharge, his predecessor Sonia Gandhi, and Lok Sabha floor leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury will not attend the Ram temple consecration ceremony on January 22, calling it a "RSS/BJP event and accusing the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) of making the event into a political project for electoral gains.

The decision sparked a political controversy -- the BJP accused the principal opposition party of opposing Lord Ram and the faith of millions of people, and there were some strands of dissent from within. The three Congress leaders were among a host of political leaders, dignitaries and celebrities invited for the Ram temple inauguration ceremony, to be presided over by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. "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," the party said in a statement.

"While abiding by the 2019 Supreme Court judgment [that paved the way for the temple] and honouring the sentiments of millions who revere Lord Ram, Shri Mallikarjun Kharge, Smt.