Bharatiya Janata Party rejects Rahul Gandhi's accusations on Ram Temple consecration ceremony

Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar addresses a press conference at the BJP headquarters, in New Delhi, Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2024. PTI Photo

Launching a scathing attack on Congress leader Rahul Gandhi over his comments on Ram temple consecration ceremony, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday said Rahul Gandhi would like people to believe that the faith of Hindus can be manipulated but no one wants him to interpret how they should practice their beliefs.

Addressing a press conference in the national capital city New Delhi, Union minister and the saffron party leader Rajeev Chandrasekhar said Ram temple is a deeply felt emotion by Hindus in every corner of the country.

The comments came after Gandhi accused the Bharatiya Janata Party of turning the January 22 Ram temple consecration ceremony at Ayodhya into a party event. The former Congress president also targeted the Bharatiya Janata Party over the Ram temple issue and slammed the Modi government for its handling of the economy.

"Rahul Gandhi lives in a la-la world. He thinks everything he says is predicated on nobody understanding the truth and he can get away with these atrocious lies. He tried so in 2014 and 2019 and is trying again. The people of India are wise enough. They understand the truth and what his politics is about," he said.

The minister cited the performance of the Congress government in Karnataka which he blamed for "corruption and farmers' distress" in the state.

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Gandhi had earlier said in Nagaland that it is difficult for his party's leaders to attend the January 22 Ram temple consecration ceremony as the BJP and the RSS have turned it into a "political event" centred around Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

His remarks at a press conference during the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra here came days after the Congress top brass declined the invitation to the event at the Ram temple in Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh.

Chandrasekhar lauded what he called Modi's pro-poor and welfare policies for development and accused the Congress of misleading the poor with empty slogans of 'Garibi Hatao'. The Modi government has reversed the "anyay" (injustice), he said in a swipe at Gandhi's Nyay Yatra.

The Congress played on the poor for decades, he said. The Modi government has made a transformational impact, he said.

Since 2015, more than 1 lakh start-ups and 112 unicorns have come up, the BJP leader said, adding that a parliamentary report in 2012 had noted that nine groups had cornered 97 per cent of the net worth in the banking system.

Capital availability for the young innovators was then scarce but now they are rising due to a supportive system, he added.

There will be 10 lakh start-ups and 10 thousand unicorns in the next 10 years, he claimed, asserting that India has become a technology-producing country from a technology-consuming country. (With inputs from PTI)