The Congress said inauguration of the 'incomplete temple' by the BJP-RSS leaders has been brought forward for electoral gain.
Nair Service Society logo. (Wikimedia)
Hours after top Congress leaders “respectfully declined” the invitation to attend the Ram Temple consecration ceremony, Kerala’s influential Nair Service Society (NSS) said boycotting the event on political grounds was “irreverence towards God”.
Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge, former party president Sonia Gandhi, and leader of the party in the Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, while declining the invitation on Wednesday, 10 January, accused the BJP of turning it into a “political project” for electoral gains and asserted that religion was a “personal matter”.
In a veiled criticism of the Congress stand, the NSS, in a statement, said it was the duty of every believer to take part, if possible, in the consecration ceremony being held at Ayodhya on 22 January.
There is no need to look at caste or religion for participating in the event, it said.
“Boycotting that initiative in the name of politics is irreverence towards God. If any organisation or political party is opposing it, it is only for their selfish and political gains,” the statement issued by NSS general secretary G Sukumaran Nair said.
It further said that it was not adopting this stance for any political motive or to support a specific political party, as it has been cooperating with the construction of the Ram Temple right from the start.
In 2021, the NSS had contributed ₹7 lakh towards the construction of the Ram Temple at Ayodhya.
Meanwhile, welcoming the statement of the NSS general secretary Sukumaran Nair, BJP Kerala State president K Surendran said the stand taken by the outfit fosters confidence in the Hindu community.
In a Facebook post, Surendran said, “A clear stance, instilling confidence in the hearts of the Hindu community,” while sharing a copy of the statement issued by the influential Nair outfit.
He said it would help strengthen the unity of the Hindu community.
Senior BJP leader and Union Minister V Muraleedharan also praised the NSS position on the matter, stating that the Nair outfit’s stand should serve as “an eye-opener for the Congress-Communist alliance, which has once again disrespected the faith of the majority” by declining the invitation.
In a Facebook post, Muraleedharan said “the great temple in Ayodhya” represents the culmination of a 500-year wait for Sanatana devotees.
Criticising the Congress and the Communists for rejecting the invitation to the Ayodhya ceremony, the Union Minister stated that insulting God’s holy land is tantamount to “insulting God”.
“It is clear under whose influence the INDI alliance boycotted the ceremony. The God-believing people of Kerala will respond to this appeasement politics,” he added.
Senior Congress leader and Lok Sabha MP K Muraleedharan, on 28 December, had said that the state unit of the party had urged the national leadership not to participate in the consecration ceremony.
However, KPCC chief K Sudhakaran said that he was unaware of the state unit conveying its position to the national leadership on the matter.
“The state unit’s position on this issue has been conveyed to AICC general secretary KC Venugopal,” Muraleedharan said earlier, amid growing pressure from Muslim groups in the state against Congress leaders attending the ceremony.
Reacting to the CPI(M)’s decision to turn down the invitation to attend the inauguration of the Ram Temple, CWC member and Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor earlier said that the Left party can take a decision easily on the matter as they don’t have faith in any religion.
“There are no ideologies of the CPI(M) or the BJP within the Congress. We are seeing Hindutva as a political doctrine. It is not connected with the Hindu religion. So, we are neither the CPI(M) nor the BJP. Give us time to take a decision on the matter,” he had earlier told the media on 28 December.
At that time, the Congress had not decided on whether or not to attend the Ram temple event.
Earlier, underlining that the Congress’ “soul” was Hindu, the Shiv Sena (UBT) on 3 January said its leaders should attend the Ram Temple consecration ceremony in Ayodhya if they received the special invitation, keeping aside political differences.
The Uddhav Thackeray-led party is an ally of the Congress in the Maharashtra’s Maha Vikas Aghadi, and also a member of the INDIA bloc of Opposition parties.
However, the ruling CPI(M) in Kerala on 29 December lashed out at the Congress for not deciding on the invitation. The CPI(M) said that it showed the political bankruptcy of that party.
CPI(M) state secretary MV Govindan said that the move to build a temple with the support of the government was not befitting of a secular nation.
While the CPI(M) is an alliance partner in the Opposition bloc, the Left party and Congress are primary political rivals in Kerala. Earlier, the party’s national general secretary Sitaram Yechury had declined the consecration invitation.
The Supreme Court had in a historic verdict in 2019 backed the construction of the Ram temple by a government trust at the disputed site in Ayodhya and ruled that an alternative five-acre plot must be found for a mosque in the town considered holy by Hindus.
As a result, Ayodhya is getting decked up for the “pran pratishtha” at the grand Ram temple being built there.
The BJP and the RSS and affiliate Hindutva organisations like the Vishva Hindu Parishad have launched a nationwide mass connect programme in the run-up to the ceremony, urging people to visit the holy place after the programme.
The BJP has also asked all its state units to start a campaign from 14 January to ensure the cleanliness of temples and the surroundings and exhort people to join the 22 January event by offering prayers at temples in their respective neighbourhoods.
The Ram temple complex, built in the traditional Nagara style, will be 380 feet in length (east-west direction), 250 feet in width and 161 feet in height.
Each floor of the temple will be 20 feet high and have a total of 392 pillars and 44 gates.
(With PTI inputs)
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