Radhika Khera resigns from Congress, cites opposition to Ram temple visit

New Delhi: The Congress' media department national coordinator Radhika Khera resigned from the party's primary membership on Sunday, days after her altercation with another leader at the party's Chhattisgarh state unit office.

In her resignation letter to Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge, Khera also claimed that she was facing opposition in the party for her visit to the Ram temple in Ayodhya.

"It is an established truth since ancient times that those who support religion have been opposed. Examples of this range from Hiranyakashipu to Ravana and Kansa. At present, some people are opposing those who take the name of Lord Shri Ram," Khera said in her letter.

"For every Hindu, the birthplace of Lord Ram holds great significance with its sanctity … while every Hindu considers his life successful just by seeing Ram Lalla, some people are opposing it," she said, without taking any names.

Khera further said in the party to which she had given more than 22 years of her life and worked with full honesty -- from the NSUI (National Students' Union of India) to the All India Congress Committee's (AICC) media department -- she had been facing such intense opposition because she could not stop herself from having a 'darshan' of Ram Lalla in Ayodhya.

"The opposition to my noble cause reached such a level that justice was denied in the incident that happened with me in the Chhattisgarh Pradesh Congress office," Khera said in her letter in Hindi.

"I have always fought from every platform for the justice of others but, when it came to my own justice, I found myself defeated in the party," she said.

Being a devotee of Lord Shri Ram and a woman, Khera said, she was deeply hurt.

"Hurt by the fact that I did not get justice even after repeatedly informing all the top leaders of the party, I have taken this step today. With great pain, I am resigning the primary membership of the party and resigning from my post," Khera said.

"Yes, I am a girl and I can fight, and that is what I am doing now. I will continue to fight for justice for myself and for the people of the country," she said in a post in Hindi on X along with the letter.

आज अत्यंत पीड़ा के साथ पार्टी की प्राथमिक सदस्यता त्याग रही हूँ व अपने पद से इस्तीफ़ा दे रही हूँ।



हाँ मैं लड़की हूँ और लड़ सकती हूँ, और वही अब मैं कर रहीं हूँ।



अपने व देशवासियों के न्याय के लिए मैं निरंतर लड़ती रहूँगी। pic.twitter.com/6hjgSDcXV0

— Radhika Khera (@Radhika_Khera) May 5, 2024

Khera and the Chhattisgarh Pradesh Congress' communication wing chairperson Sushil Anand Shukla on Friday met the party's state unit chief Deepak Baij amid an alleged tussle between the two leaders.

Baij said he held separate meetings with Khera and Shukla at Rajiv Bhavan, the party's state office in Raipur, and added that he would send a report on it to the central leadership.

"I tried to find out what took place. I will inform the AICC about it. Now party leaders in Delhi will decide who is right and who is wrong. Whatever has happened is a matter of the party," Baij told reporters.

When asked about the issue, Khera told reporters she has spoken to the state president and will inform about the matter after holding a press conference.

According to Congress sources, an argument broke out between Khera and Shukla on April 30 in the party office over the visit of senior leader Pawan Khera the next day.

In a post on X, Khera said at the time, "A daughter is not safe in Mata Kaushalya's paternal home. People suffering from male chauvinistic mentality are still trying to crush daughters under their feet. I will reveal." Chhattisgarh is believed to be the birthplace of Mata Kaushalya.

Hours after Khera's post, a video became widely circulated on social media in which she could purportedly be heard saying that she was resigning due to an "insult".