A war of words took place between the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) members and the Opposition in the Uttarakhand Assembly on Wednesday over the colour of the Ram Lalla idol installed in the new temple in Ayodhya.
The heated exchange happened during a debate in the House on the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) Bill.
Adesh Singh Chauhan, Congress MLA from Jaspur, accused the saffron party of rendering the Ram Lalla idol in Ayodhya “black” contrary to the Hindu scriptures which describe the deity as “sanwala” (dusky).
“According to the Hindu scriptures, Ram was ‘sanwala’ (dusky), but you people made the Ram Lalla idol installed in the temple in Ayodhya black,” he said.
Reacting to the allegation, parliamentary affairs minister Premchand Aggarwal asked the Congress leader to speak only on the UCC Bill.
“You must stop making insulting remarks against Lord Ram,” said Aggarwal.
The BJP leader also described the Congress as a party which had denied the very existence of Lord Ram.
However, the argument lasted only a few minutes as Speaker Ritu Khanduri intervened and asked the Congress MLA to not deviate from the UCC, which was the subject of discussion.
On January 22, the Ram Lalla idol was unveiled at the Pran Pratishtha (consecration) ceremony at the newly-constructed temple in Ayodhya after the hour-long rituals in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi who led the ceremony.
The new Ram Lalla idol consecrated at the grand temple will be known as “Balak Ram” as it depicts the deity as a five-year-old boy in a standing posture.
The new idol is adorned in Banarasi fabric, featuring a yellow dhoti and a red ‘pataka’ or ‘angavastram’.
The old idol of Ram Lalla, which was earlier kept in a makeshift shrine, has been placed in front of the new idol.
The old idol is now being referred to as ‘Utsav idol’.
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Published: 07 Feb 2024, 07:24 PM IST