Confusion has arisen within the Kerala state unit of the Congress over the political stance it will take on its national leadership’s invitation to attend the consecration ceremony of the Ram temple in Ayodhya on January 22.
Senior Congress leader and Lok Sabha MP K Muraleedharan on Thursday said the party’s state unit has urged the national leadership not to attend the inauguration ceremony.
However, KPCC chief K Sudhakaran said he was not aware of the state unit conveying its stand on the matter to the national leadership.
“The state unit’s position on the issue has been conveyed to AICC general secretary KC Venugopal,” Muraleedharan said during the day amid growing pressure from Muslim groups in the state against Congress leaders attending the event.
“Congress should not participate in this at any cost,” Muraleedharan told reporters. This is the decision of the state leadership of the party. The sentiments of the state unit have been conveyed to Venugopal.”
However, he said that Congress is a national party that leads the anti-BJP front, and the national leadership will take an appropriate decision after discussing the matter with them.
Muraleedharan also said that the Samajwadi Party, a key component of the India Front, has announced that it will participate in the consecration ceremony of the Ram temple.
Sudhakaran said that this decision has to be taken by the national leadership of the party.
“If they ask our position on this matter, we will tell them,” he told reporters.
Asked about Muraleedharan’s statement, the KPCC chief said, “Ask him about it.” Reacting to the CPI(M)’s decision to decline the invitation to attend the inauguration of the Ram temple, CWC member and Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor said the Left parties can easily take a decision on the matter as they do not have the confidence to Is. In any religion.
“There is no ideology of CPI(M) or BJP within the Congress. We are looking at Hindutva as a political principle. It has nothing to do with Hinduism. Therefore, we are neither CPI(M) nor BJP.” Give us time to decide on this matter, he told the media in Malayalam.
The statement by Congress leaders came a day after Samast, a prominent Muslim Sunni cleric body in Kerala, criticized the party over its indecision over attending the consecration ceremony of the Ram temple in Ayodhya.
In the editorial of Samast’s mouthpiece ‘Suprabhatam’, Congress was accused of having a soft-Hindutva stance.
The Congress has not revealed whether its key leaders, including president Mallikarjun Kharge, former chief Sonia Gandhi and Lok Sabha leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, will attend the consecration ceremony of the Ram temple in Ayodhya on January 22.
Despite receiving the invitation, the party has not expressed its stand on this matter but has expressed gratitude for the invitation.
