Row over Ram temple invite to Akhilesh Yadav

Lucknow, Jan 10: The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) has claimed to have invited Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav for the upcoming Pran Pratishtha ceremony at the Ram Temple in Ayodhya, but the latter has refused to confirm or deny the same.

VHP chief Alok Kumar said: “Invitation has been sent to him. Let us see if Lord Ram calls him.”

Akhilesh Yadav retorted: “I don’t know him (Alok Kumar). Only people known to each other extend invitations.”

He also hit out at the BJP-led government, saying it is against minorities.

“This government is against minorities. Our Gods are PDA - Pichhade, Dalit and Alpasankhayak (Backward, Dalit and Minority),” he said.

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.”

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had said on Monday in Mathura that “those who were hesitant in going to Ayodhya are now complaining about not receiving the invitation to attend the Pran Pratishtha ceremony at Ram Temple”.

Meanwhile, a hoarding with an image of the Ram temple being built in Ayodhya and a photograph of Akhilesh Yadav had come up outside the party office in Lucknow, triggering curiosity.

The hoarding carries the line ‘Aa rahe hain hamare aaradhya Prabhu Shri Ram’ (our revered Lord Ram is coming).

State BJP spokesperson Manish Shukla said:, “Those who are taking the name of Lord Ram, are not necessarily his devotees. Kaalnemi (a demon in epic Ramayan) is found in every era.”