Acharya Pramod Krishnam on Sunday said that there can be no compromise on the issue of Lord Rama and nation. His comment came after he was expelled from the Congress party for a period of six years.
The Congress party said in an official statement on Saturday that the party president approved the proposal of the Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee to expel Acharya Pramod Krishnam from the party with immediate effect for a period of six years.
"Ram and 'Rashtra' but 'compromise' cannot be done," Acharya Krishnam said in a post on X (formerly Twitter).
The statement, signed by Congress general secretary and Rajya Sabha MP KC Venugopal, said the decision to oust Acharya Krishnam was taken after "complaints of indiscipline and repeated public statements against the party."
The Congress' announcement to oust Acharya Pramod came after the senior Congress leader met Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He had invited Prime Minister Modi to the foundation stone laying ceremony of the Kalki Dham in Uttar Pradesh's Sambhal on February 19.
Not only this, Acharya Krishnam also criticised many decisions of the party leadership in the recent past. Krishnam criticised the Congress party for its decision to give the Ram Mandir consecration ceremony a miss.
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He called the decision as "unfortunate". Congress leaders Mallikarjun Kharge, Sonia Gandhi, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, Jairam Ramesh and other famous leaders said they will not attend the ceremony held in Ayodhya. The party called the ceremony a "RSS/BJP event" rather than a religious one.
While addressing a press conference, Acharya Krishnam fired a volley of questions at the Congress top leadership over his ouster from the party. "Meeting PM Modi, inviting UP CM Yogi Adityanath for foundation stone laying ceremony of Shri Kalki Dham, and talking about Indian culture - are these things anti-party? These are my questions for the Congress leadership," he said.
The former Congress Uttar Pradesh advisory council member also talked about how leaders like Sachin Pilot and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra are being disrespected. He also questioned as to why Priyanka Gandhi Vadra did not join Rahul Gandhi in the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra.
Krishnam said: "Sachin Pilot has been disrespected a lot in the party and like Lord Shiv, he is gulping the poison. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is also being disrespected...You should ask her why is she not joining Rahul Gandhi in his Yatra? The question is who is giving instructions to disrespect them because our president (Mallikarjun Kharge) is just a rubber stamp..."
About Acharya Pramod Krishnam
Acharya Pramod Krishnam, the head of the Kalki Dham in Uttar Pradesh, was a member of the Congress' Uttar Pradesh advisory council. The advisory council was formed to assist Priyanka Gandhi Vadra when she assumed responsibility as the UP in-charge of the party.
Acharya Pramod contested the Lok Sabha elections from UP's Sambhal in 2014 but lost out to BJP leader Satya Pal Singh. In 2019, Acharya Krishnam tried his luck again on a Congress ticket from Lucknow but lost to Defence Minister Rajnath Singh. Despite his loss, Krishnam polled in an impressive 1,80,011 votes.
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