Sonia, Kharge to skip Ayodhya Ram temple inauguration

New Delhi: Vindicating the NewsDrum report published on December 22, the Congress party on Wednesday said that the party leaders have declined to attend the Ram temple opening in Ayodhya.

NewsDrum was the first news platform "globally" to report that Sonia, Kharge may skip the historic event on January 22.

A statement from Congress general secretary (communications) said that the religion is a personal matter but the RSS/BJP have long made a political project of the temple in Ayodhya. 

"The inauguration of the incomplete temple by the leaders of BJP and the RSS has been obviously brought forward for the electoral gain," the satement said explaning the rationale behind declining the inviation.

Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge were invited by a delegation associated with the Ram Temple construction, including Nripendra Mishra, former principal secretary to Modi in PMO.

The Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust sent individual invitations to Congress's leader in the Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, CPI(M) leaders Sitaram Yechury, D Raja and heads of all political parties.

Recently, a letter written by the country's first prime minister Jawahar Lal Nehru to his Information and Broadcasting minister RR Diwakar was doing rounds on social media.

In the letter dated April 28, 1951, Nehru passed a gag order to limit the coverage of the Somnath temple opening attended by the first president of India Dr. Rajendra Prasad.

The Somnath temple was rebuilt after reclaiming the original temple which was broken and converted into a mosque, similar to the Ayodhya Ram Temple. 

While Nehru can be seen referring to the term "Secular" to justify why the government should distance itself from the opening of the temple, social media users pointed out that the restorations of Mughal structures were being done by the government religiously.

The letter is a part of "Selected works of Jawaharlal Nehru / Series 2 / Vol. 16 / Part 1 / Page No. 611."

Full text of the letter:

"My dear Diwakar

I have been rather worried about the ceremonies that are going to take place at Somnath temple. Many inquiries are addressed to me as to whether this is a governmental function or not. I have replied both in India and abroad, as well as in Parliament, that this is not a governmental function, although some Members of Government (N V Gadgil, Minister of Urban Development and Rehabilitation, and K M Munshi, Minister for Food and Civil Supplies) may be personally interested.

As a matter of fact, when I heard that the President was going there, I was not happy about this, and I wrote to him accordingly. Rajaji also agreed with me. After some correspondence, I accepted the fact of the President’s going there because he was anxious to do so and had already promised this. I did so somewhat reluctantly.

I think that this pompous ceremony regarding Somnath temple and any kind of governmental association is going to injure us abroad and even in India. Indeed I am getting many complaints and letters about it. Inquiries are addressed to me if this is how a secular State behaves. All I can say in reply is that this is not a governmental function.

I feel that in the circumstances our radio broadcast should rather tone down the description of what happens at Somnath and not make it appear in any way that it is a governmental function."