Rahul Gandhi, criticized the dedication of the Ram temple on Tuesday, referring to it as a political event for Narendra Modi.

“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,” Gandhi said at a briefing during his Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra in Nagaland's capital Kohima.

Rahul Gandhi’s statement

“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,” Gandhi added.

Gandhi made his remarks a few days after the Congress announced that Mallikarjun Kharge, the party's leader, former president Sonia Gandhi, and Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, a Congress floor leader in the Lok Sabha, would not be attending the "Pran Pratishtha" ceremony.

Rahul's take on defeating BJP

On the opposition INDIA bloc, the Congress leader said the alliance will defeat the BJP in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.

“I am confident that small problems within the INDIA bloc will be resolved and we will together defeat the BJP. The issue of seat sharing is being taken up with INDIA bloc allies. Talks are going quite well," Rahul Gandhi said.

What Congress said while declining the invitation

 In its statement, the Congress had said,“The inauguration of the incomplete temple by the leaders of the [ruling] BJP [Bharatiya Janata Party] and [its ideological fountainhead] the RSS [Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh] has been obviously brought forward for electoral gain.”

About the event

The grand event will be attended by prominent saints, celebrities including sportspersons, actors and industrialists."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 told PTI.

The seven-day rituals for the ‘Pran Pratishtha’ ceremony began on Tuesday. The main consecration ceremony will be held on January 22 and will be presided by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Rahul's Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra

 Rahul Gandhi made these comments while on Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra which he started from Manipur on Sunday.The Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra was resumed on Tuesday by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi from Kohima, Nagaland. Gandhi covered a wide range of subjects in a news conference, including the opening of the Ram temple, discussions within the INDIA bloc, and the "hybrid" nature of his most recent yatra.