Sonia Gandhi Could Go to the Ram Temple Event, Though She Will Decide Later: References

New Delhi: According to Congress sources on Friday, Sonia Gandhi is expected to attend the January 22 consecration ceremony of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya. However, they emphasized that a final decision would be made closer to the day.

Mrs Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge, the chairman of the party, and Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, the leader of the party in the Lok Sabha, were all invited to the function, which has become the focal point of national political discourse in the run-up to a general election in less than four months.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be the guest of honor at the event, according to a statement made earlier by Congressman Digvijaya Singh. Singh said that Mrs. Gandhi was “very positive on this” and that someone else would be attending.

According to sources, the Congress would decide on this politically delicate matter only after holding lengthy negotiations with its partners, which include members of the INDIA opposition alliance like the Indian Union Muslim League.

Before the election, the Congress is expected to clarify that it is treading carefully. The Congress believes that by abstaining from the event, the BJP would have a lethal weapon with which to attack the party and consequently its allies in India, before of the elections.

Invites to political parties that are not affiliated with the BJP, particularly those that are opposing the governing party, have created a (expected) hornet’s nest, and those leaders are now assessing the advantages and disadvantages of making a choice.

Similar to the Congress, by going, they would expose themselves to potential criticism from other minority groups as well as Muslims, especially in the run-up to the general election and many state votes in 2019. Many believe that abstaining would give the governing BJP more fodder for the same.

The CPI and CPIM have already made their decisions; Brinda Karat said earlier this week that her party will not support the practice of “using religion as a political weapon”. “No, we’re not going. We respect religious convictions, but it is wrong that they are tying a religious agenda to politics, the speaker remarked.

Former leader of the Congress Party Kapil Sibal, who is now an independent member of the Rajya Sabha, said that he had “Lord Ram in my heart” and that he was not going to the probable pre-election show of strength by the BJP.

In response to Ms. Karat, Union Minister Meenakshi Lekhi of the BJP, which has made the building of the temple a key campaign issue and would do so once again in the lead-up to the elections next year, retorted, stating, “… invitations were sent to all (but) only those called by Lord Ram will come.”

“There would not have been weaponization if they (the Left) had been there. Speaking negatively against a certain religion is the weaponization. Who is weaponizing it if invitations were made and some people declined to attend? Who issued out invitations and who declined to attend?” Speaking to NDTV, she inquired.