Cong leaders take dip in Saryu, say Ram belongs to all

With just a week left for “Pran Pratishtha” of Ram Lalla in Uttar Pradesh’s Ayodhya, several Congress leaders, including its Uttar Pradesh chief Ajay Rai and MP Deepender Hooda took a holy dip in the Saryu River amid chants of “Siyavar Ramchandra Ki Jai” on the occasion of Makar Sankranti.

The visit by these Congress leaders assumes significance as three of its top leaders Sonia Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge, and Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury declined to attend the “Pran Pratishtha” ceremony, calling it a “RSS/BJP” for “political gains”.

Avinash Pandey, Akhilesh Pratap Singh, Uttar Pradesh Congress Legislature Party leader Aradhana Mishra and Congress national secretary in-charge Dheeraj Gurjar were also present there.

After taking a dip in the Saryu river, they paid obeisance at the Hanuman Garhi temple.

“Today we will have the ‘darshan’ of Lord Ram and today is the auspicious day of Makar Sankranti and we took a holy dip in the Saryu river and will take blessings of Lord Ram…,” Ajay Rai said.

Hooda earlier said, “Lord Ram is the symbol of our faith. Lord Ram belongs to everyone. This is not my first visit to Ayodhya. Today we have come here to seek the blessings of Lord Ram on the occasion of Makar Sankranti…”

Congress leader Supriya Shrinate, who was also present in Ayodhya, said the truth is that BJP is doing dirty politics in the name of religion.

“We have come for the darshan of Ram Lalla; calling it ‘political’ is BJP’s mistake. The truth is that BJP is doing dirty politics in the name of religion,” she said.

Last week, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, former party president Sonia Gandhi and leader of the party in the Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury turned down the invitation to attend the consecration ceremony on January 22.

The Congress leadership “respectfully declined” the invitation to attend the ceremony, while accusing the BJP of making it into a “political project” for electoral gains and asserting that religion is a “personal matter”.