Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal in his Republic Day address at the city’s Chhatrasal Stadium on Thursday unambiguously endorsed the grand pran pratishtha (consecration) ceremony held on January 22 at the newly constructed Ram temple in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh. After paying tribute to freedom fighters, soldiers, farmers, labourers, industrialists, traders, scientists, women and youth – all those who have contributed to the country’s progress in the last seventy-five years – Kejriwal quickly moved to the topic of the pran pratishtha ceremony.
“Friends, just a few days ago in Ayodhya, the pran pratistha ritual of Shri Ram Lalla was held. This is a matter of great pride, joy, and cheer (badhai) for the entire country and the world. People celebrated the event with gusto. On the one hand, while we must express our devotion to Shri Ram, on the other we must take inspiration from his life and imbibe his message in our lives," the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convener said.
The Delhi chief minister had not received a final invitation to attend the consecration event and said that he would visit Ayodhya later with his family.
Kejriwal’s clear support for the pran pratishtha ceremony is a stark contrast to the views of his allies in the INDIA bloc who have been more nuanced and critical in their responses. Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary Sitaram Yechury, for instance, turned down an invitation to attend the ceremony, stressing the principle of separation of the state and religion as a must for secularism. Yechury called it a “state sponsored" event directly involving the Prime Minister, UP chief minister, and others holding constitutional posts, and argued that the pran pratishtha ceremony was a “straightforward politicisation of the religious belief of the people which is not in consonance with the Constitution".
Another ally, Trinamool Congress chairperson and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee chose to skip the ceremony in Ayodhya and took out an interfaith rally from Hazra to Park Circus Maidan in Kolkata on January 22. Addressing the rally later, Banerjee targeted the Bharatiya Janata Party and said, “They (the BJP) talk about Lord Ram, but what about Devi Sita who was with Lord Ram throughout his exile? They do not speak about Devi Sita as they are anti-women. I am a worshipper of Devi Durga. So there is no need to lecture us on religion."
Her nephew, TMC MP and national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee went a step further and posted on social media site X a day ahead of the pran pratishtha ceremony: “My religion has not taught me to accept and embrace a place of worship, whether it is a mandir, masjid, church, or gurdwara, which has been built over hatred and violence and dead bodies of innocents. Period."
The Congress, while extending a “thank you" for the invitation, also skipped the grand ceremony on January 22. In a statement, the party said, “Religion is a personal matter but the RSS and the BJP have made the Ayodhya temple a political project." Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, parliamentary party leader Sonia Gandhi, and leader of opposition in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury “respectfully" declined the invitation.
However, Congress’s Himachal chief minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu declared a full holiday on January 22, saying Lord Ram does not belong to any particular party, and lit diyas at his residence to mark the occasion. Similarly, party leader Deepender Hooda took a dip in the Sarayu river ahead of the ceremony. Congress MP Shashi Tharoor posted a picture on X of the deity after the pran pratishtha and said, “Siyavar Ramchandra ki Jai." Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera wrote on the social media site a day later, “Let’s not forget, yesterday’s fringe is today’s mainstream." The Congress government in Karnataka did not declare a holiday on January 22.
Veteran political leader and Nationalist Congress Party founder Sharad Pawar was also critical of the Narendra Modi government. “I respect the inauguration of the Ram temple in Ayodhya. However, would the government hold any such programme to eradicate poverty?" he said. Pawar had written to the secretary of the Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra, Champat Rai, saying that he would go for a darshan to the shrine after January 22 when the crowds of devotees would have subsided and the temple would be fully constructed. He also pointed out that the “shilanyas" (laying of the foundation stone) of the Ram temple was done when Congress’s Rajiv Gandhi was the Prime Minister.
The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), another important constituent of the INDIA bloc, is at odds and had also been critical of the consecration at the temple with party MP TR Balu calling it a “political event". In fact, the BJP moved the Supreme Court to allow the live telecast of the ceremony in the state, which was granted.
The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) endorsed the Congress party’s decision to not attend the pran pratishtha ceremony and Lalu Prasad Yadav, too, gave the programme a miss. Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar inaugurated the Sriram Medical College and Hospital in Samastipur district a day ahead of the ceremony.
In the run-up to the consecration event in Ayodhya, AAP organised recitations of Ramayana’s Sunderkand chapter, plays from Ram Lila and, on the 22nd, several ministers and party workers did havans, carried out processions, and set up free kitchens. Party chief Arvind Kejriwal participated in all this wholeheartedly.
On Thursday, as he addressed the people ahead of Republic Day, the Delhi chief minister focused entirely on Lord Ram, episodes from the Ramayana, and “Ram Rajya". Making a subtle political point, he dwelt on the story of Ram consuming the berries that devotee Shabri offered him after tasting each. “Mata Shabri came from a caste that was plagued by untouchability. In those days, they called it lower caste. She was a great devotee of Bhagwan Ram. Bhagwan Ram did not go into the palaces of kings to give darshan, he went into the hut of Mata Shabri. Mata Shabri was so innocent that she wanted to give only the sweet ones from the berries that she had gathered and so she tasted them one by one and offered the sweet ones to Bhagwan Ram, discarding the sour ones. Bhagwan Ram had each one of those berries. When Lakshman questioned him, he replied, ‘I have not had such good food. I will have whatever my devotee offers’. Bhagwan Ram never discriminated on the basis of caste."
Kejriwal then said that today Indian society is divided along caste lines. He quoted from the Ramayana to illustrate what is Ram Rajya: “Daihik, Daivik, Bhautik Tapa/ Ram Rajya Kahu Nahi Vyapa/ Sab Nar Karahi Paraspar Preeti/ Chalahi Swadharm Nirat Shruti Neeti (In Ram Rajya, there were no illnesses, God’s wrath, or natural calamities; people used to live together affectionately and practised their religion peacefully with love for the others)."
The chief minister reiterated what he had told the Delhi assembly in 2021 that AAP tries to abide by the principles of “Ram Rajya" while governing Delhi. He further spelt out the ten principles of “Ram Rajya": no one should go hungry’ everyone, especially the poor, should have access to good education, good healthcare services, electricity, and water, there should be respect for the elderly, everyone must feel safe; employment for the youth, low inflation, and equality for all.
The CM promised that the upcoming budget will have an allocation to ensure that the wishes of the people to visit Ayodhya are met. Unlike many of his allies, the AAP convener did term the consecration ceremony “an RSS-BJP event".
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