PM Modi slams Congress for 'insulting' Lord Ram by declining Ayodhya pran pratishta invite

Prime Minister Narendra Modi Tuesday lashed out at the Congress for allegedly ‘insulting’ Lord Ram and attempting to ‘stall the construction’ of the Ayodhya temple. 

The senior BJP leader had earlier likened the Congress election manifesto to something that could have originated with the Muslim League during a poll rally in Uttar Pradesh.

"The Congress made several efforts so that the Ram temple in Ayodhya is not constructed. But when the people of the country made such a beautiful temple by contributing every penny, and when the temple people forgave all your sins, and invited you for the 'pran prathistaa', you insulted Lord Ram by rejecting the invitation and expelled leaders, who attended it, for six years," he said.

"Every family in the country contributed according to their devotion. The people of Pilibhit also gifted a huge flute to Ayodhya. However, the people of the INDI alliance harbored hatred even before the construction of the Ram temple, and they continue to harbor it today," the PM said.

Recalling the contributions made by former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Kalyan Singh for the construction of the temple, he said, "Our Kalyan Singh ji dedicated his life and government for the Ram temple".

Singh, who was one of the prominent faces of the Ram mandir agitation, was chief minister of Uttar Pradesh when the Babri mosque was demolished in 1992.

Sharpening his attack on the Congress, Modi said, "Congress is so immersed in the swamp ('daldal') of appeasement that it can never get out of it. The manifesto prepared by the Congress seems to be that of Muslim League rather than that of the Congress."

The prime minister also asserted that his government is working towards the goal of making a developed India.

Amid the