On 21st January, the management of Batadrava Than in Assam requested Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to reschedule his visit to the Shrine on 22 January which was scheduled during the Ram Lalla Pran Pratishtha ceremony of Ram Mandir in Ayodhya. Gandhi was scheduled to visit the shrine on the morning of 22nd January as part of his Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra.
The Vaishnav monastery, which is located at the birthplace of revered Assamese saint Srimanta Sankardeva, is expecting a large number of devotees to visit the temple given Bhagwan Shri Ram Lalla Pran Pratishtha scheduled for 22nd January 2024 at Bhavya Ram Mandir in Ayodhya. The temple administration has asked Gandhi to postpone his visit till 3 PM so that they can properly welcome the Congress leader. However, Congress is adamant about visiting the temple as per their schedule.
The President of the Batadrava Than management committee, Jogendra Narayan Dev Mahanta, said in a statement that there will be logistical challenges if Gandhi visits as per the schedule. He said, “Around 10,000 people are anticipated at the shrine tomorrow. In light of this, we prefer Mr Gandhi’s visit after 3 PM to avoid difficulties during g the welcoming process.” The committee further assured that they were prepared to offer Gandhi a grand welcome if he came at the time suggested by the Temple administration. They have also communicated the same to the local administrative authorities.
The request by the Satra to Rahul Gandhi to reschedule the visit after Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma slammed the Congress MP for planning to visit the shrine during the Ram Mandir Pran Pratishtha ceremony. He urged Gandhi to consider the broader implications of his visit that coincided with the Ram Mandir Pran Pratishtha ceremony.
Himanta Biswa Sarma said that Rahul Gandhi was trying to create a competition between two religious places, Ram Mandir and Batadrava Than, saying that it was not desirable. He said that there can be no competition between Lord Ram and Sankardev, a saint revered as an icon in the state. ”We will request Rahul Gandhi not to visit Batadrava on Monday during the consecration ceremony of the Ram Temple as it will reflect Assam in the wrong light,” the chief minister said at a press conference in Guwahati.
मैं हैरान हूँ कि कल के पावन अवसर पर कॉंग्रेस सारे संवेदनशील जगहों से अपनी बस यात्रा निकाल रही है – क्योंकि उनके यात्रा में सिर्फ़ एक विशेष समुदाय भाग ले रही है।
— Himanta Biswa Sarma (@himantabiswa) January 21, 2024
असम पुलिस सतर्क है और यात्रा को सुरक्षा प्रदान करेगी।#PressConferenceHighlights pic.twitter.com/kSapfyiJYw
The CM said he has read a report saying that when Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be participating in the consecration ceremony at Ayodhya, Rahul Gandhi will be present at the Batadrava satra in Assam, adding that it shows Assam in a bad light. ”This is a wrong projection. There is no competition between Ram and Sankardeva and when the nation’s focus is on Ayodhya, it should not be unnecessarily diverted to Assam. We will be grateful if he avoids going to the satra during the Pran Pratistha of the Ram Temple,” he said.
Moreover, Sarma noted that Rahul Gandhi has not been invited by the monastery, and he himself scheduled the visit on 22 January morning. He added that Rahul Gandhi should reschedule the visit. However, he said that he is not issuing any order regarding this, because then Congress will claim that he is putting obstacles on the yatra.
CM Himanta Biswa Sarma also said that the Congress party has chosen sensitive areas for the Yatra during the Pran Pratishtha ceremony. He said that the route goes through minority-dominated areas of Morigaon, Jagiroad and Nellie, which could have been avoided. ”These areas are sensitive and I cannot discount any law and order situation arising and as such commandos will be deployed along sensitive routes of minority-dominated areas to be taken by Rahul Gandhi’s Yatra on January 22,” he said.
The CM also noted that people of a particular community join the Congress yatra, and it is not a secular event. He said that visiting the Batadrava Than with such kind of supporters during the Pran Pratishtha ceremony in Ayodhya may cause problems, and therefore he should visit the revered Satra at a different time.
Despite the requests made by the Temple Administration and CM Sarma, Congress is adamant about visiting the temple as per the original schedule. All India Congress Committee’s General Secretary Jairam Ramesh insisted that there were no attempts to give political colour to Gandhi’s temple visit. He said Gandhi would visit the temple in the morning and continue his BJNY through Morigaon district and into Meghalaya.
Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra
Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra or BJNY or Bharat Jodo Yatra 2.0 is a 66-day journey that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has taken with several Congress leaders and supporters. The aim is to gather support for the party for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. However, as BJY failed to gather support, which was visible in the results of Assembly Elections in five states in December last year, this Yatra may end up with a similar fate. The journey started from Manipur on 14th January 2024 and is scheduled to cover Nagaland, Assam, Meghalaya, West Bengal, Biar, Jharkhand, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Maharashtra. While Gandhi walked most of BJY, the Congress leaders were doing the sequel mainly on vehicles.
