The Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra's invite for Prime Minister Narendra Modi to attend the consecration ceremony of the Ram temple in Ayodhya has triggered a war of words between the BJP and Opposition parties.
The Congress has questioned whether "God is now limited to one party" and accused the BJP of raising the Ram Mandir issue for electoral gains, ahead of the Assembly and Lok Sabha elections.
"Is the invitation going to just one party? I cannot comment on who would reach and who would not. But is God now limited to one party? The invitation should be for everyone… It is being made into a program of just one party. Is this a party program or related to only one person?… Invitations should have been sent to everyone," Khurshid told ANI.
The installation of the idol of Lord Ram in the Garbhagriha (the 'pran pratishtha') is expected to take place on January 22. The Prime Minister, while informing about the invite, said it was his good fortune that he would be a witness to this historic occasion in his lifetime.
However, the Opposition's INDIA bloc leaders have targetted Modi, calling it an election gimmick. According to Sanjay Raut of Shiv Sena (UBT), the whole thing has something to do with the "preparation of elections".
"There was no need to invite PM Modi as he himself would attend such a big event. Ram Mandir was supposed to be built. Thousands of karsevaks have given their lives for it. All Hindutvavadi organisations and parties were involved. Shiv Sena, Bajrang Dal and Vishwa Hindu Parishad were there. LK Advani took out a Rath Yatra. It is the result of all of this that Ram Mandir is being built. This is why PM Modi would go and perform prayers but I think that this is the preparation of the elections..." Sanjay Raut said.
DMK leader TKS Elangovan said the BJP is "replacing history with mythology". "They have demolished history and replaced it with mythology. Any country should be proud of its history, it should know the history. Ram's birth is mythology, it is a story from Ramayana. It is literature. They want to replace history with mythology. That is what the BJP is trying to do," he said,
Elangovan added that BJP wants to use the issue as a political tool. "He is not interested in Ram. BJP does not consider Ram as an important thing but their political gain becomes important so they are making use of Ram for their political gains," he alleged.