'BJP, RSS Event Centered Around PM Modi...': Rahul Gandhi Shuns Ayodhya Ram Mandir Pran Pratishtha Ceremony

New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday said that his party’s leaders will not attend the Ram temple consecration ceremony on January 22 as the BJP and the RSS have made it a “political event” focused on Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He made these comments at a press conference during the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, which he is leading across the country. His statement comes after the Congress top leadership rejected the invitation to the ceremony at the Ram temple in Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh.

“The Ram temple consecration ceremony is a political event centred on the prime minister. The BJP and the RSS are adding an election flavour to it and that is why it is difficult for us to attend,” Gandhi said. He added that it is hard for his party to be part of the Ram temple event when their main rivals the BJP and the RSS have hijacked the occasion and turned it into an election stunt.

Gandhi also spoke about the opposition INDIA bloc, which he said will defeat the BJP in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. He said that the seat sharing talks among the INDIA bloc partners are going on smoothly and cordially.

“I am confident that small issues within the INDIA bloc will be sorted out and we will together defeat the BJP. The matter of seat sharing is being discussed with the INDIA bloc allies. Talks are progressing well,” Gandhi said.

He claimed that the opposition alliance will win the Lok Sabha election together. The yatra, which started in Thoubal in Manipur on January 14, reached Nagaland on Monday evening. The march will cover 100 Lok Sabha seats in 15 states, covering 6,713 km, mostly by buses but also by foot, and end in Mumbai on March 20 or 21.