Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge said on Monday that President Droupadi Murmu was not invited to the Pran Pratishtha programme at Ayodhya and the inaugural function of Parliament due to her caste. Former President Ram Nath Kovind, Kharge said, was also not invited to the two events by the due to the same reason.
“PM Modiji says though we invited leaders from the Congress party to Ayodhya they never turned up. They are showing disrespect to God. But why have you not invited our President? You have not invited the first citizen of the country even to the inaugural function of the Parliament,” Kharge said addressing a rally in Bengaluru Rural.
The ‘Pran Pratishtha’, or the consecration, of the Ram Mandir was held at Ayodhya on January 22, 2024. A congress party press communiqué quoted Kharge giving these remarks during the public meeting in Bengaluru Rural on Monday.
The temple’s construction committee and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) had, however, invited President Murmu for the Ram Mandir event.
In February, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi also said that President Droupadi Murmu is an ‘Adivasi’ , so she was not invited to the mega event.
“Did you see the Ram Mandir event? It was held with great fanfare. But did you see any Dalit faces? Our President is an Adivasi, so she wasn’t allowed to attend the event. Did you see any farmer or labourer during the event? No backward class faces were anywhere seen during the event. But you must have seen Adani, Ambani and their families. All the businessmen were there. Amitabh Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai and Narendra Modi were there,” Gandhi said.
Kharge said on Monday that PM Modi criticised the Congress manifesto but the guarantees announced in the grand old party’s manifesto don’t say mention it was meant for Muslims, Hindus or any particular community. “They (guarantees) are for all. They are for all the citizens of India,” Kharge said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi sparked controversy on Sunday after he said that if the Congress party were to come to power, it would redistribute wealth among those ‘with more children.’ The PM also cited former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s disputed remarks that Muslims had the first claim on the country’s resources.
The Prime Minister’s remarks have triggered a political row with many calling his comments ‘hate speech’ Prime Minister Narendra Modi repeated his comments during a public meeting in Aligarh on Monday and said that the Congress would “steal the gold of mothers and sisters” if it was elected to power.
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Published: 22 Apr 2024, 08:07 PM IST