Akhilesh won't attend Ram Mandir inauguration, will visit later with family
Akhilesh Yadav wrote to Champat Rai thanking for the invitation and said he will visit the Ram Temple with family but after the inauguration event.
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Saturday wrote to Ayodhya Temple Trust general secretary Champat Rai thanking him for the invitation to the consecration ceremony on January 22. Akhilesh said he would visit the temple along with his family after the inauguration event. Akhilesh wrote he received the invitation on Saturday and promised that he would come to Ram Temple as a visitor after the consecration ceremony. The reply came amid a strong political row over the issue of attending the event.
While Akhilesh did not depart from the response of many other INDIA bloc allies as he won't be attending the ceremony, he did not turn it down but added that he would definitely visit the temple later. Akhilesh did not cite any reason for not attending the pran-pratishtha event.
The CPM was the first among the INDIA bloc parties to decline the invitation. The Congress too issued a statement calling the January 22 inauguration a BJP/RSS event. "While abiding by the 2019 Supreme Court judgment and honouring the sentiments of millions who revere Lord Ram, Shri Mallikarjun Kharge, Smt. Sonia Gandhi and Shri Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury have respectfully declined the invitation to what is clearly an RSS/BJP event," the statement issued by Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said.
Trinamool supremo Mamata Banerjee said the inauguration of the Ram Temple is an election gimmick.
Row over Akhilesh-Ayodhya invitation
Till Friday, Akhilesh claimed he did not receive any invitation for the inauguration ceremony. Vishwa Hindu Parishad sources were quoted as saying that a VHP functionary approached Akhilesh with the invitation but Akhilesh did not accept the invitation saying that he did not know that person. “We do not accept invitations from those whom we do not know,” Akhilesh was quoted as having told the VHP functionary.
“I have not received any invitation through courier. I checked it at home as well as the party office and asked to inform me if someone received it … we should get the receipt so as to track the courier. Invites are not handed over to someone on the road just like that," Akhilesh said on Friday.
