HYDERABAD: The BJP's Telangana unit on Thursday accused the ruling Congress of appeasing the Muslim community, with its top national leaders deciding to skip the January 22 'Pran Pratishtha' ceremony at the Ram Temple in Ayodhya.
"The Congress party, given the coming Lok Sabha elections, wanted to appease Muslims by not attending the holy ceremony at Ayodhya," the BJP's official spokesperson for Telangana, NV Subhash, said in a statement on Thursday.
Earlier, senior Congress leaders--Mallikarjun Kharge, Sonia Gandhi, and Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury--'declined' the invitation to the 'Pran Pratistha' ceremony of Lord Ram Lalla in Ayodhya on January 22.
Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh alleged that the ceremony was "clearly a Bharatiya Janata Party and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh event."
Subhash, meanwhile, termed the decline of the invitation by the Congress leaders as an affront to the people of India.
"The decision of opposition parties, particularly the Congress Party, to distance themselves from the consecration ceremony of Lord Rama on one pretext or another is an affront to the people of India and deliberately ignores the ancient culture of the country," Subhash was quoted as saying in the statement.
He also urged Chief Minister Revanth Reddy to organise a special puja in all Ram temples across the state ahead of the opening of the grand temple in Ayodhya on January 22.
He said that CM Reddy should respect the feelings and faith of the people by organising special pujas in the temples.
The BJP spokesperson claimed that not attending the Ram Temple opening is akin to "boycotting the values, culture, and faith of crores of the people".
"Not attending the Ram Temple consecration celebration is nothing but boycotting the values, culture, and faith of crores of people who have undeterred faith in Lord Rama," the BJP leader said.
Subhash said the people would teach a lesson to the Congress in the Lok Sabha elections for turning down the Ram Temple invite.
"The Congress will realise its mistake and bow to Lord Rama one day," he said.