'It's a Modi function': Rahul Gandhi takes a dig at PM over Ram Mandir inauguration

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday took a dig at Prime Minister by saying that the Ram Temple Pran Pratishtha ceremony in Ayodhya, scheduled for January 22, is a "Narendra Modi function".

Addressing a rally in the heart of Nagaland’s capital Kohima, as part of his ‘Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra’, he said: "The RSS and the BJP have made the 22nd January function a completely political Narendra Modi function. It's a RSS BJP function and I think that is why the Congress President said that he would not go to the function. We are open to all religions, all practices. Even the authorities of the Hindu religion, the biggest authorities of the Hindu religion have made their view public about what they think about the 22nd January function that it is a political function. So it is difficult for us to go to a political function which is designed around the Prime Minister of India and designed around the RSS."

The ‘Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra’ would cover a distance of 6,713 km and 100 Lok Sabha constituencies and is scheduled to culminate in Mumbai in Maharashtra. 

Gandhi said the idea of the march is to give “justice to the people” and to “make politics, society and the economic structure more equal and accessible to everyone”.

Rituals in the run-up to the January 22 Ram Mandir consecration ceremony started at the temple complex in Ayodhya on Tuesday, its chief priest said.

These will continue till January 21. On January 22, the minimum essential rituals needed for the “Pran Pratishtha” (consecration) of the idol of Ram Lalla will be conducted, temple trust general secretary Champat Rai had told reporters on Monday.

“The ‘anushthan’ has started and will continue till January 22, the day of the consecration ceremony. Eleven priests are performing the rituals invoking all the “devis and devtas” (goddesses and gods),” Ram temple chief priest Acharya Satyendra Das said.

The trust said there are seven adhivasas in the “Pran Pratishtha” and a minimum of three adhivasas are in practice.