Congress Party Declines Ram Mandir Invite
Congress Party Declines Ram Mandir Invite
Congress Declines Invitation
The Indian National Congress has “respectfully” declined the invitation to attend the consecration of the “Ram Mandir” at Ayodhya on 22nd January, 20241.
Speaking for myself, I find the message (snapshot below) rather blunt and somewhat offensive. I am sure it must have been approved by the Congress High Command after due deliberation. My unsolicited advice to the GOP would have been to add a sentence like..... "Lord Ram is either worshipped or deeply respected by the people, including the rank and file of the Congress Party members, all over the world, across all faiths......." But I guess the damage is already done. You can't really do much for a team that is proficient at scoring self goals. :(
The Managing Trust has been Established by the Government of India
The Grand Old Party perhaps overlooked that the Governing Trust is established by the Government of India in pursuance to the directions of the Supreme Court of India in the case in which it finally settled the Ayodhya dispute. Thus for all intents and purposes it was an invite by the Government of India, through an entity established by it.
The Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra (SRJBT Kshetra) is a Trust2 established by the Government of India in 2020 to construct and manage the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya. The trust is made up of 15 trustees3, including:
Jagatguru Shankaracharya Jyotishpeethadhishwar Swami Vasudevanand Saraswatiji Maharaj
Jagatguru Madhwacharya Swami Vishwa Prasannathirthaji Maharaj
Yugapurusha Paramanand Ji Maharaj
Swami Govind Dev Giri Ji Maharaj
Champati Rai, Leader of the Vishav Hindu Parishad is the General Secretary
The trust's PAN number is AAZTS6197B.
The trust is eligible for a 50% deduction under section 80G(2)(b) of the Income Tax Act, 1961 for voluntary contributions made for the renovation or repair of the Mandir.
All members of the Trust, including three in ex-officio capacity are appointed by the Government of India.
Impact and Humble Suggestion
While the overall electoral impact of the Congress Party’s declining the invitation may be hard to measure or evaluate, but suffice it so say that in our opinion it cannot be incrementally positive.
Before we part, we deem it necessary to submit that the default version of the Trust “official” website is in Hindi. Keeping in view the global interest among the devotees, it needs to have versions not just in English and other recognized Indian languages but also in all the other major languages of the world. That would be a befitting tribute to Lord Ram’s universal and timeless appeal.
https://srjbtkshetra.org/
https://srjbtkshetra.org/trust-members/