During a heated debate in the Rajya Sabha on the opening of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya, AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi expressed his profound respect for Lord Ram while simultaneously condemning Nathuram Godse for assassinating Mahatma Gandhi, whose last words were "Hey Ram."
"I have the highest respect for Lord Ram but hate Nathuram Godse because he killed the person whose last words were 'Hey Ram'," the AIMIM leader said.
Owaisi's comments came as he questioned the BJP-led government's intentions, asking if it represented a particular community or the entire nation. He challenged the government to clarify whether the 'Pran Pratishtha' ceremony of the deity on January 22 was a symbol of one religion's triumph over another, and what message this sent to India's Muslim population.
"I want to ask today: is this government under the leadership of PM Modi for a particular community, the practitioners of a certain religion or the entire country? Does this government have a religion of its own? I believe that this country does not and should not stand for any particular religion," Owaisi said.
"Through this resolution on the January 22nd event in Ayodhya, is this government sending out a message that it marked the triumph of one religion over the other? What larger message are they sending out to the 17 crore Muslims in the country?" the AIMIM leader asked.
Owaisi also criticized the BJP for labeling minority community leaders after historical Muslim figures and demanded that the government state its position on religion. The discussion coincided with the last day of the 17th Lok Sabha, where the 'Pran Pratishtha' ceremony of Shri Ram Lalla in Ayodhya was a topic of conversation. BJP national president JP Nadda spoke of the event as a resurgence of India's spiritual and cultural conscience.
"When we speak of the 500-year-old history, it was that of slavery and oppression. However, January 22, 2024 will go down as a day of rebirth and resurgence of the country's spiritual and cultural conscience. This day will remain memorable for thousands of years," Nadda said.
The Congress party, through its MPs Pramod Tiwari and Randeep Surjewala, acknowledged the Supreme Court's role in clearing the way for the temple's construction and emphasized that the values of Lord Ram should not be used for partisan politics.
They criticized the BJP for conducting the consecration in an incomplete temple and suggested that it could bring ominous outcomes for society. The Congress stance was that the temple's consecration should have been performed by priests rather than politicians with no association with the temple.
This debate took place against the backdrop of the Supreme Court's verdict on November 9, 2019, which ordered the disputed land in Ayodhya to be handed over to a trust for the construction of the Ram temple, while providing an alternative site for the construction of a mosque.
The Ayodhya Ram Mandir, spanning 54,700 sq ft and covering nearly 2.7 acres of land, is part of a larger complex spread over approximately 70 acres, designed to accommodate around a million devotees.