He said worship inside Babri Masjid was permitted under a Congress government at the Centre; and a Congress government was at the helm in New Delhi when shilanyas for the temple was allowed.
Accusing the Congress of having always adopted a “soft-Hindutva line”, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Wednesday said there was little surprise in the statement of Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra that the bhoomi pujan for Ram temple in Ayodhya should be seen as a celebration of national unity, fraternity and cultural affinity.
He said worship inside Babri Masjid was permitted under a Congress government at the Centre; and a Congress government was at the helm in New Delhi when shilanyas for the temple was allowed.
Addressing the media, Vijayan said, “Everyone knows the stand adopted by the Congress. The approaches of (former Prime Ministers) Rajiv Gandhi and (P V) Narasimha Rao are part of history. If the Congress had a clear stand on secularism, the country would not have faced the present fate. I don’t find anything new in the approach of Rahul Gandhi or Priyanka Gandhi.”
He said the Congress government had stood inactive when kar sevaks went to Ayodhya to demolish Babri Masjid. What later happened is the culmination of this approach, he said.
On the CPI(M)’s stand on the bhoomi pujan ceremony for the Ram temple at Ayodhya, Vijayan said the party politburo had made its stand clear.
The CPI(M) has stated that a trust should take over construction of the temple as per the Supreme Court’s verdict.
Asked for his reaction to the foundation stone laying ceremony by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Vijayan said Kerala is now worried about overcoming the coronavirus challenge and would worry about such things later. “Covid-19 cases in the country has crossed 19 lakh. Now we should think about overcoming this situation. There are people in the country who are in poverty due to the pandemic and relief should be delivered to them. Kerala government is adopting actions towards that,” he said.
Source: The Indian Express
