After dilly-dallying for over a month, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav has finally announced that he will not go to Ayodhya on January 22 to attend the Ram Lalla consecration ceremony.
“I will not accept such an invitation from a stranger. I don’t know these people (Vishwa Hindu Parishad working president Alok Kumar and his colleagues) and have never met them. They are not fit to give me an invitation for anything because we don’t know each other. We accept such gestures in Hindu religion from those whom we know,” Akhilesh told reporters in Lucknow.
The SP chief said this in response to Alok Kumar’s statement that he had sent an invitation to Akhilesh Yadav to attend the inaugural function of Ram temple in Ayodhya on January 22. An invitation was sent to him by courier by the Sri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Ayodhya.
“As far as attending the function is concerned, let me say that the Bharatiya Janata Party and its associated wings are nobody to send such an invitation to me on behalf of the Bhagwan Ram. I will worship at the temple along with my family members only when God calls me,” Yadav added.
A banner put up by an SP leader at the gate of the party office on Tuesday reads in Hindi: “Our God, Lord Ram is coming.”
There is a picture of the under-construction temple and Akhilesh along with Ashutosh Singh, a party leader, on the banner. Singh confirmed that he had put up the banner and said: “Ram belongs to the entire Hindu community and not merely to the BJP, which is misusing the God’s name.”
“The Supreme Court in 2019 had ordered the building of Ram temple but the BJP and the VHP are behaving as if it was their decision,” Singh said and added, “Any Hindu can put up such banners anywhere in the country. The SP belongs to those who worship Lord Ram and follow God’s teaching to work for humanity.”
A source close to the SP chief said, “Some VHP, RSS and BJP leaders wanted to meet Akhilesh Yadav a few days ago but he was not free. They had left the invitation card in his office.”