Unlike AICC, UP opposition parties cautious on Ayodhya
opposition parties have taken a more nuanced approach to questions regarding attending the Ram temple consecration ceremony in Ayodhya than the principal national opposition Congress, which has slammed it as «clearly a BJP-RSS event» and said the inauguration is being done for «political gains».
BSP chief Mayawati on Monday, while saying she was yet undecided on whether or not to attend the programme owing to party engagements, emphatically added that her party «did not have any problems» with the January 22 ceremony and «welcomed it», «just like it would welcome a programme for the mosque being built in place of Babri Masjid as the BSP is a secular party».
Two days earlier, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, after putting out cryptic statements regarding whether he will attend the ceremony, wrote a letter to temple trust general secretary Champat Rai, thanking him for the invitation and assuring him that he would visit the temple after January 22 «as a devotee with his entire family». He also extended his best wishes for the successful organisation of the programme.
Yadav's letter, which he posted on social media platform X, appeared to take care not to upset the majority Hindu voters while also not appearing anti-Muslim by attending the inauguration being organised by the Sangh Parivar.
On Monday, senior UP Congress leaders, although not invited to the January 22 ceremony, visited Ayodhya, took a dip in the holy Saryu river and worshipped at the Ram Lalla Virjaman makeshift temple and the Hanumangarhi temple.
