Siddaramaiah says Ram Mandir good news after minister’s ‘like Pulwama’ remark

Amid major politicking over the inauguration of the Ram Temple on January 22, Congress leader Acharya Pramod Krishnam on Sunday said those who won’t attend the grand event despite being invited, it is their misfortune.

The comment came as Karnataka minister Dasharathaiah Sudhakar said the BJP was exploiting the event ahead of the election like it did Pulwama before the 2019 election. Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah said Ram Mandir is good news and they are in favour of the temple.

“We are not against the issue of Ayodhya Ram Mandir, we are not against building a temple either. We are in favour of Ram Mandir…” Siddaramaiah said.

Calling the politics over the event unfortunate, Acharya Pramod said, ‘This should not happen in a democracy. You can oppose PM Modi, and criticise his decisions, but hating PM Modi is not a sign of democracy. Some people are ruining themselves by hating PM Modi. Some opposition leaders brought down their own elected government. This is complete destruction,” the Congress leader said.

“This is negative energy. These are negative, atheist people. Those who oppose Ram should have no place in politics. The people of India won’t like this negativity; this is not our culture. Our culture is to be happy when there is a festival in our enemy’s house as well. And this is everyone’s festival, India’s festival,” the Congress leader said.

Several opposition parties including the Congress, Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) criticised the BJP for making it a political event. CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury said he was invited to the inauguration event but won’t attend. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, former president Sonia Gandhi, Lok Sabha leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury have been invited but the party has not made its official stand clear on whether to attend the event. Uddhav Thackeray has not been invited and he said he does not need an invitation to go to Ram Temple.

Indian Overseas Congress president Sam Pitroda came under fire after he said Ram Mandir becoming a national issue bothered him. The Congress distanced from his view and said it was Sam Pitroda’s personal opinion.

The fresh controversy began after Karnataka minister D Sudhakar’s comment as he said, “The inauguration of Ayodhya Ram Mandir is a stunt. People are not fools. We have been fooled twice. I am confident that we won’t be fooled for the third time,” the Karnataka minister said.

The minister also added that he earlier contributed money and bricks for the construction of the temple.

“The PMO and government should shift base to Ayodhya. They will ask for votes only in Ram’s name because they have done nothing else,” Shiv Sena (Uddhav faction) leader Sanjay Raut said.