Congress leader and former president of Gujarat Congress Arjun Modhwadia on Wednesday criticised the decision of senior leaders of his party including Sonia Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge and Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury to skip the Ram Temple event in Ayodhya. Taking to X, Modhwadia wrote, “Lord Shri Ram is worshipped by many… This is a matter of faith and belief of the countrymen. @INCIndia should have stayed away from taking such political decisions.”

In a statement issued on Wednesday, the Congress said that its leaders would not be attending the consecration ceremony of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya. “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,” the statement said.

The BJP criticised the Congress over its decision. BJP leader and former chief minister of Madhya Pradesh Shivraj Singh Chouhan said, “Lord Ram is the identity of our country. Rejecting ‘Pran Pratishtha’ invitation is like rejecting the identity of the country.”

Meanwhile, Union minister and senior BJP leader Hardeep Singh Puri said, “They are stuck in their rhetoric…Why take them seriously? They will regret it if they don’t go…”

However, Shiv Sena MP Priyanka Chaturvedi backed the Congress’ stand over not attending the invitation to the ‘pran pratishtha’ event. She said, “It is a matter of our devotion and I won’t do any politics over this. But there is one question, there are four Shankaracharyas in the country and they too have said that they won’t participate in the ceremony. Are they too wrong?…”

(With inputs from agencies)