"For sake of appeasement..." Union Minister Pralhad Joshi slams Congress after top brass declined Ram Temple invite

Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], January 11 (ANI): Union Minister Pralhad Joshi on Thursday came down heavily on Congress, saying that the top brass of the grand old party has declined the invitation to attend the 'Pran Pratishtha' ceremony of Ram Lalla in Ayodhya only for the "sake of appeasement."
Pralhad Joshi, while speaking to ANI said that the Congress Party has reached the 'heights of appeasement'.
"... For the sake of appeasement, the Congress party is continuously opposing Hindu beliefs. Whenever the issue of Ram Temple has been raised in the last two to four decades, they have always opposed it. They even said Lord Ram was a fictional figure and questioned the Ram Setu... The present Congress party has reached the heights of appeasement. I am not surprised by their decision..." he said.
Dubbing the Ram temple consecration ceremony as a "BJP/RSS event", the Congress said that Mallikarjun Kharge, Sonia Gandhi and Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury would skip the ceremony scheduled to be held on January 22.
The BJP has launched a no-holds-barred attack on Congress after its leaders turned down the invitation.
Invoking India's first prime minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, BJP spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi on Thursday said, "This is Nehru's Congress, this is not Gandhi's Congress. Mahatma Gandhi used to sing 'Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram' and today Congress is not attending the 'pran pratishtha' ceremony. This shows Congress is against Hindu religion and Hindutva."
Escalating the attack against Congress' decision to skip the programme, BJP MP Harnath Singh Yadav alleged that the grand old party was against the Ram Janmabhoomi from the beginning.
Labelling the Congress and Akhilesh Yadav who also declined the invitation as "Anti-Hindu forces", Yadav asserted that such forces are gaining strength in the country.
"Congress opposed Ram Janmabhoomi right from the beginning. It left no stone unturned in overcoming all the obstacles that it could. They had an opportunity to atone for all their sins and crimes but they lost that opportunity. Citizens of this country are standing with Lord Ram. People whose spirits live somewhere else are against Lord Ram," the BJP MP said.
However, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Thursday voiced support for the senior party leaders-- Mallikarjun Kharge, Sonia Gandhi, and Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury - abstaining from the programme in Ayodhya.
Siddaramaiah accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Sangh Parivar leaders of disrespecting Lord Ram and the nation's 140 crore people by politicising a religious event.
He emphasised the Congress party's consistent support for the construction of Ram Mandir, respecting the court's verdict while criticising the BJP, RSS, and VHP for alleged hypocrisy in accepting the court's decision.
Congress MP Shashi Tharoor also joined in the criticism of the Union Government alleging politicisation of a religious event.
Congress MP Shashi Tharoor stated in a post on X, "Much to think about as the nation braces itself for the Jan 22 inauguration by a political leader of an incomplete temple, with priests relegated to supporting roles in a pre-election political spectacle." (ANI)