BJP has made Ram Mandir an issue: Ashok Gehlot on Congress not attending Pran Pratishtha event

Jaipur: Even as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) attacked the Congress for not attending the Ram Mandir event at Ayodhya, former Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot said that it was the BJP which had made the event into an issue.
"It was the BJP which made it (Ram Mandir) an issue which has led to this problem," Gehlot said speaking to ANI.
The former Chief Minister said that since everyone has faith in the Lord Ram and has welcomed Supreme Court's verdict the government and the trust should have acted appropriately.
"The Ram Mandir is the centre of everyone's faith. The Supreme Court had given its verdict and the differences were solved peacefully. People from every religion, caste and class welcomed this step. The government and the trust should have acted appropriately," Gehlot said.
The senior Congress leader said that even our Shankaracharyas (religious guru) will not be attending the Ram Mandir event which shows that the reason for not attending it is important.
"When they politicised the event and took decisions, our Shankaracharyas, who are at the top of Sanatan Dharma and guide us, said that they will not be attending the event. This has become such an issue that all Shankarachariyas are saying they will boycott this event. If the Shankaracharyas are saying so, it has its own importance," Gehlot said.
Gehlot said that the BJP should have taken everyone into confidence while planning the event as Ram Mandir is for the public.
"They (BJP) should not have let it turn into such a controversy. If Ram Mandir is of everyone, the Supreme Court's decision came for everyone, they should have taken all castes, religions, class and political parties into confidence," the former Chief Minister said.
Gehlot said that inviting the opposition parties to an event conceptualised based on the BJP is not a right decision and opposition party leaders cannot attend it.
"The entire event has been conceptualised based on the BJP and the RSS. Even the Prabandhankar (enlighteneer) is a BJP worker. If you are inviting political parties in such an environment, it is not right...Since this program has turned into a RSS-BJP event, how can leaders from the Congress go? Why should the Congress president, Sonia Gandhi, Leader of Congress in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury go to a RSS-BJP event?" he said.
Ashok Gehlot said that no one needs permission to go to a temple and the way Prime Minister Narendra Modi is steering the country is not right.
"Does anyone need permission to go to a temple? If anyone goes to a temple, mosque, gurudwara, church, does he need to seek anyone's permission? Everyone has belief in Lord Ram. The arrogance with which the NDA government is functioning, the way Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Amit Shah is steering the country, is not right. So we say that democracy is under threat, the Constitution is under attack...," he said.
The Congress has turned down the invitation for the 'Pran Pratistha' ceremony of Lord Ram Lalla, scheduled later this month in Ayodhya, calling it an event of the BJP and RSS.