"Congress is not standing with Ram but with Babar": Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat

Indore (Madhya Pradesh) [India], January 11 : Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekawat on Thursday slammed Congress for declining the invitation to the Lord Ram Lalla Pran Pratishtha event and said that the grand old party is not standing with "Lord Ram but with Mughal Emperor Babar".
Calling the Ram Temple inauguration an event of the BJP and RSS, Congress has turned down the invitation for the 'Pran Pratistha' ceremony of Lord Ram Lalla, scheduled later this month in Ayodhya.
Gajendra Singh Shekawat told ANI "Once again it has been proved that Congress is not standing with Ram but with Babar. They have once again shown their mentality which they have adopted out of compulsion due to mere appeasement politics."
The senior Congress leaders--Mallikarjun Kharge, Sonia Gandhi and Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury--had 'declined' the invitation for the grand event in Ayodhya, the party's general secretary Jairam Ramesh said in a statement.
"Last month, the Congress President and Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Shri Mallikarjun Kharge, Congress Parliamentary Party Chairperson, Smt. Sonia Gandhi and the Leader of the Congress Party in the Lok Sabha Shri Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury received an invitation to attend the inauguration ceremony of the Ram Mandir at Ayodhya to be held on January 22nd, 2024," he said in the statement.
"Lord Ram is worshipped by millions in our country. 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. While abiding by the 2019 Supreme Court judgment and honouring the sentiments of millions who revere Lord Ram, Shri Mallikarjun Kharge, Smt. Sonia Gandhi and Shri Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury have respectfully declined the invitation to what is clearly an RSS/BJP event," it added.