While thousands of dignitaries and people from all sections of society are gearing up to attend the auspicious Pran Pratishtha ceremony of the Bhavya Ram Mandir in Ayodhya, the Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav has reportedly turned down the invitation.
On January 9, media outlets quoted the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) sources as confirming that a VHP functionary had approached the SP chief with the invitation to attend the ceremony but Akhilesh did not “accept” the invitation saying that he did not know the person (VHP functionary) who went to invite him.
“We do not accept invitations from those whom we do not know,” Akhilesh was quoted as having told the VHP functionary.
Meanwhile, reacting to Akhilesh Yadav’s offensive behaviour, Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) chief Alok Kumar said, “Invitation has been sent to him…let’s see if Lord Ram calls him.”
The Trust also retorted by saying that any devotee could pay obeisance at the Ram Temple whether he was invited or not.
When asked about Alok Kumar’s comments on a TV news channel in New Delhi on Tuesday morning, Yadav criticized the BJP-led administration, claiming it is anti-minorities. “This government is against minorities. Our Gods are PDA – Pichhade, Dalit and Alpasankhayak (Backward, Dalit and Minority).” The SP chief neither confirmed nor denied receiving the invitation.
Earlier, VHP international working president Alok Kumar had said: “Sometime back, I read his (Akhilesh’s) statement wherein he was quoted as saying that ‘If he gets an invitation for the ceremony, he will go’, so we have invited him; then I read another statement saying ‘If Bhagwan Ram Ji calls, then I will go’. So, now I am eagerly waiting to know if Ram ji calls the Samajwadi Party and its president or not. If not called, then it will be clear to people that Bhagwan Ram does not want (them).”
Notably, Akhilesh Yadav has over the months been very vague about attending the Ram Temple consecration ceremony. Recently, while SP MP and Akhilesh Yadav’s wife Dimple Yadav has stated unequivocally that she will attend the Ram Temple consecration event if invited, Akhilesh gave a vague response as to whether he would go for the consecration ceremony of the Ram Mandir. He stated that he would visit the Temple “whenever God wants him to”.
Some party officials then stated that the party’s position is still ambiguous because the situation is a Catch-22 for the SP. Knowing that the SP relies heavily on Muslim votes in the state the party does not want to irritate the minority community. At the same time, it does not want to turn its back on the Temple event, knowing that a large section of UP’s population is celebrating the historic event.
Akhilesh Yadav and his party have criticised the Ram Janmabhoomi movement for years
In November 2019, the Supreme Court had delivered the judgment in the Ayodhya case and handed over the Ram Janmabhoomi site to Hindus to build the temple of Lord Ram. Saints and devotees across the country had launched ‘Shri Ram Mandir Nidhi Samarpan’ campaign to raise funds for the grand temple.
A simmering wave of resentment swept the devotees of Lord Ram after Akhilesh Yadav derided the donation collectors, calling them “Chanda jeevi” or professional donation collectors. People responded to him with disdain and called him “Babar-Jeevi“.
Akhilesh Yadav was chief minister of Uttar Pradesh when he banned the 84 koshi parikrama in Ayodhya under pressure from his minister Azam Khan to please fundamentalist Muslims.
Moreover, back in 2013 when the Samajwadi Party was in power in Uttar Pradesh, Akhilesh had suspended the then Home Secretary for convening a meeting to discuss aspects of the reconstruction of the Ram Mandir.
Akhilesh Yadav inherited hate for Hindus and the Ram Janmabhumi from his father Mulayam Singh Yadav. He was the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh when had ordered firing upon the Karsevaks who had gathered at Ayodhya in November 1990 to demand the construction of a Ram temple. Mulayam Singh Yadav earned the nickname of ‘Mullah Mulayam’ for his atrocities on Hindus.
