Sonia Gandhi was seen thumping the desk when President Droupadi Murmu mentioned Ayodhya’s Ram temple in her speech in Parliament on Wednesday with the beginning of the budget session, while Congress leaders said the party has always had aastha (faith) in the deity.
“We were only opposed to the political nature of the January 22 function in Ayodhya. The Congress has deep devotion towards Lord Ram. You saw how Sonia Gandhi thumped the desk twice when the President made a reference to the Ayodhya temple in her speech. Sonia ji was always in favour of the temple and will always be in its favour,” Congress leaders and MPs Rajeev Shukla and Pramod Tiwari told News18. BJP MPs had responded with loud chants of “Jai Sri Ram” when the President made references to the Ayodhya temple.
“There come junctures in the history of civilisations, which shape the future for the coming centuries. There have been many such defining moments in the history of India also. This year, on January 22, the country witnessed a similar epochal moment. After waiting for centuries, Ram Lalla has now been enshrined in his grand temple in Ayodhya. This was a matter of aspiration and faith for crores of our countrymen and the resolution of this has been accomplished in a harmonious manner,” the President said in her speech.
Pramod Tiwari also sought to give credit to late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi under whose government it was decided to open the locks of the Babri Masjid in 1985, while on November 9, 1989, Vishva Hindu Parishad leaders were allowed to lay the foundation stone of the Ram temple in Ayodhya. “We all know what Rajiv Gandhi also did. Sonia Gandhi always maintained that the temple issue should be decided constitutionally as per mutual resolution or through the judiciary. We accepted the Supreme Court decision. Today is not the first time Sonia Gandhi has shown aastha in Lord Ram. We always have done it,” Tiwari told News18.
Union minister Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti, however, told News18 that the Congress had lost a big chance by not going to the January 22 pran pratishtha (consecration) function at the Ayodhya temple. “They should have gone…why did they not go? January 22 was not a BJP function, it was an invite to Congress by the Ram Temple Trust. They lost that chance due to their mindset. Their own leader, Acharya Pramod Krishnan, said it was wrong on the part of the Congress. It was not right on the Congress’s part to insult Lord Ram then,” Jyoti said.
Congress MP Karti Chidambaram, meanwhile, told News18 that a temple is not a new phenomenon in India but he found it surprising that the government wanted to portray it as some sort of an achievement. “Temples, mosques, churches are a part of the social fabric of this country. A country which aims to become a superpower economically and in terms of world stature…it doesn’t behove such a country to mark the opening of a religious site as some sort of an achievement…it is a matter of personal faith,” he said.
The MP said the President is duty-bound to read what the government prepares for her and has done it as a stickler for protocol. “But there is an India beyond what the President has described. When we get a chance to speak in Parliament, we will speak of the India that has been forgotten,” he added.
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