No politics over Ram Mandir, says Karnataka minister Ramalinga Reddy, orders special pooja at temples on Jan 22
special Pooja at all Hindu temples on January 22, joining the celebrations at Ayodhya where Prime Minister Narendra Modi will open the new Ram Mandir that day.
“We hold such special poojas on occasions such as Sankranthi and Deepavali at the Muzrai temples. The opening of Ram temple at Ayodhya is also one such occasion,” Religious Endowment Minister Ramalinga Reddy told ET.
Hindus have been worshipping Lord Ram for thousands of years, and the Lord belongs to all of us, the minister said amid accusations by the BJP leaders of the Siddaramaiah government trying to muzzle the voice of Hindu activists by reviving old cases on ‘kar sevaks’.
“The Congress never used the Lord’s name for political purposes, but the BJP has been doing it, trying to own him,” Reddy said.
Reports have emerged that the organisers of the event have not invited
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy CM DK Shivakumar to the high-profile event at Ayodhya.
«Neither the CM nor I have got an invitation.
I read in the newspapers that our President (Sonia Gandhi) has received an invitation. The party will decide on this matter,” Shivakumar told the media in Bengaluru.
He added that he would keep a portrait of Lord Shiva and Lord Hanuman in his house and do the Pooja.
“There is no need to politicize the issue. The RSS and BJP are giving Mantrakshate (sacred rice).
They are distributing it, but it has been made using Anna Bhagya rice. We are happy about it,”the Dy CM said.
Anna Bhagya is a Congress government’s free-rice scheme under which a BPL family is entitled to 10 kgs of rice every month.
With the Lok Sabha polls months away, the Congress has been trying to counter the BJP’s campaign which has sought to project the ruling party as anti-Hindu,
