The Communist Party of India (Marxist) will skip the ‘Pran Pratishtha Mahotsav’ for Lord Ram in Uttar Pradesh’s Ayodhya on January 22. CPI(M)’s General Secretary Sitaram Yechury has decided not to go to the temple’s consecration ceremony, sources said.
Speaking to News 18, CPI(M)’s politburo member Brinda Karat confirmed the development and said, “We are certainly not going. While we respect the feelings of the believers, the politicisation of the religious programme and to use of the state and the government is not in keeping up with our belief that religion and politics should be kept separate.”
“It is also not keeping in line with the Supreme Court’s guidelines that the State should not have a religious colour,” she added.
The party later issued a statement saying that CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury had received an invitation to attend the inauguration of the Ram temple, however, the party decided not to attend the event.
“The CPI(M) policy has been to respect religious beliefs and safeguarding the right of every individual to pursue their belief. It believes that religion is a personal choice not to be converted into an instrument for political gain. Therefore, we will not be attending the ceremony,” the party said.
“It is most unfortunate that the BJP and RSS have converted a religious ceremony into a state-sponsored event directly involving the Prime Minister, the UP Chief Minister and other government functionaries. A fundamental principle of governance in India as reiterated by the Supreme Court is that the State in India, under the constitution should have no religious affiliation. This is being violated by the ruling regime in the organisation of the event’,” it added.
Interestingly the Communist Party of India (CPI) General Secretary D Raja has not received an invite to attend the ‘Pran Pratishtha Mahotsav’. Speaking to News 18, D Raja also called the temple’s inaugural event a “state-sponsored” affair and said his party will also skip it.
“It is a state-sponsored event. They are making it into a political campaign. The state should be above all this. The Constitution gives the right to everyone to practice his or her faith. We respect that. But, the State should not identify with any religion. Even if given an invite, we will not go,” he said.
Interestingly Congress parliamentary party Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge have also been invited by the Shri Ramjanmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust and the party MP KC Venugopal has said that the grand old party of India is “very much thankful” for the invitation.
Similarly, other political leaders have also been invited. It remains to be seen how many of these leaders will be in Ayodhya on January 22 and what impact their differing positions have on the INDIA bloc dynamics.
The inauguration of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya is scheduled to take place on January 22, 2024. The ceremony will be attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and many other prominent people from all walks of life.
Ram Temple In Ayodhya
Expected to be a grand affair, the Shri Ram Janmbhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust has sent out invitations to around 6000 people to attend the consecration ceremony of Ram Lalla.
The building of the Ram Temple comes after decades of legal and a bitterly divisive political battle.
The consecration ceremony, which holds immense significance for believers across the country and the world, is also seen as a big victory for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). In a way, the saffron party would be sounding the bugle for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections on the day.
The Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh is pulling out all stops to mark the Pran Pratishtha ceremony a success, with a recitation of Ramcharit Manas and Hanuman Chalisa being planned in all important places of worship in the state.
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