Congress posters claim Rahul Gandhi will construct Ram temple in Ayodhya

BHOPAL: A day before AICC president Rahul Gandhi’s rally here, posters have been put-up by Congress workers claiming he will construct Ram temple in Ayodhya.
The Congress party’s soft-Hindutva approach which was seen before the assembly elections in November continues. On Friday afternoon, Rahul Gandhi is scheduled to address a two-lakh strong farmers’ rally here in the Madhya Pradesh capital and is expected to make some major announcements before the approaching Lok Sabha elections.

But a day before his visit, huge hoardings have been installed claiming, "Sarvsammati se Ayodhya mein bhavya Ram Mandir Banwayenga, Aisa Ram Bhakt Adarniya Rahul Gandhi ji ka jheelon ki nigari Bhopal mein hardik abhinandan Swagat hai."

The bill boards come at a time when BJP national president Amit Shah has claimed that BJP wants to construct the Ram temple at the site (of Babri Masjid). Addressing booth-level workers of Uttar Pradesh in Aligarh on Wednesday, Shah also said, "Congress, Samajwadi Party and the BSP, if they have the courage, they should clear their stand on the Ram temple."

Along with the claim that, "Ram Bhakt" Rahul Gandhi will construct the temple in Ayodhya, the hoarding also identified chief minister Kamal Nath as "Hanuman and Gau Bhakt." The hoardings have photographs of all state Congress stalwarts including AICC general secretary in-charge Deepak Babaria, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Digvijaya Singh, Suresh Pachauri, Ajay Singh, Arun Yadav and others.

State PCC, however, remained tight-lipped on the issue and said the hoarding has been installed by enthusiastic party workers. State Congress media cell coordinator Narendra Saluja said, "Congress does not believe in religion-based politics. This has not been done by the party, but our enthusiastic workers have installed the hoardings."

Last Sunday, Rahul Gandhi addressed the Jan Akanksha rally in Patna. However, a few days before his public meeting there were posters in the city displaying the Congress national president as an incarnation of Lord Rama. "Weh Ram Naam Jaapte hain, tum banker Ram jiyo reh," the poster said starting a controversy as a complaint was immediately registered in the court of chief judicial magistrate, Patna. The complainant Rakesh Dutt Mishra, a leader of the Bharatiya Jan Kranti Dal alleged that by showing Rahul Gandhi as Lord Rama, the Congress has hurt the sentiments of Hindus.

BJP national vice-president Prabhat Jha took a dig at the posters. He said, "Why in posters? The Congress should officially announce they will construct the Ram temple if they are serious. BJP national president Amit Shah has asked them to clarify their stand. It seems like Congress workers have more faith in Rahul Gandhi than in Lord Rama. Any person having faith in Lord Rama will not make a poster to depict the Congress national president as the Hindu deity like they did in Patna."

Before assembly elections in the state, Rahul Gandhi was portrayed as "Shiv Bhakt" in posters before party workers’ meeting here in Bhopal in September, then as Ram Bhakt in October when he visited Chitrakoot – a place in Satna district where according to Hindu mythology Lord Rama spent 11 of his 14 years of exile. Rahul Gandhi was also projected as Narmada bhakt when he did an "aarti" of the holy river before the assembly elections in the state.