On eve of Ram temple consecration, Bharatiya Janata Party targets opposition leaders

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On the eve of Ram temple consecration ceremony on January 22 in Ayodhya, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party on Sunday targeted a host of opposition leaders for their alleged insult of 'Sanatan Dharma' and demeaning references to the Ram temple.

The BJP posted various past comments of leaders like Rahul Gandhi of the Congress, Akhilesh Yadav of the Samajwadi Party, Mamata Banerjee of the TMC, Udhayanidhi Stalin of the DMK and Arvind Kejriwal of the Aam Aadmi Party and asked people to identify these 'adharmi' (irreligious) people, newswire PTI reported.

The Congress leaders had questioned the existence of Lord Ram, it said and also accused RJD chief Lalu Prasad and his son and Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav of defaming Ram temple for vote bank.

Before the Ram temple construction, leaders like Banerjee, Akhilesh Yadav and Kejriwal made statements questioning and mocking it. They are now resorting to deception, the BJP claimed in a series of posts on X.

They "hate" Ram, have opposed the Ram temple and insulted Sanatan dharma, the ruling party alleged.

The BJP has long painted its rivals as anti-Hindu, while opposition leaders have accused the ruling party of using religion for political purposes and stoking communal divide.

Though key opposition leaders have been invited to the consecration ceremony, most of them have decided to skip it, a development cited by the BJP as yet another example of their disrespect for Hindus' feelings.

The Congress has accused the ruling dispensation of turning the consecration ceremony into a BJP-RSS event.

Meanwhile, the managing committee of the Batadrawa Than in Assam's Nagaon district has asked Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to visit the place after 3 pm on Monday and not during the Ram temple consecration ceremony.

The Batadrawa Than is located at the birthplace of Assamese icon Srimanta Sankardeva, a social-religious reformer of the 15th-16th century.

In a letter to Batadrawa's Congress MLA Shibamoni Bora on Sunday afternoon, the managing committee's president Jogendra Nath Dev Mahanta said that on the occasion of the Ram temple's consecration, several organisations have planned devotional programmes at the premises of the Than.

"Several thousands of people are expected to visit the place and as such we cannot allow Gandhi to enter the premises before 3 pm," he said.

"We had received a letter from Bora regarding the Congress MP's visit and we extend a warm welcome to him but we cannot allow him to enter the premises before 3 pm," he said.

The decision was taken at a meeting of the committee, he added. (With inputs from PTI)