Ram temple built after 500-year wait, oppn should refrain from commenting: Anurag Thakur

New Delhi, Jan 16 (PTI) Union minister and senior BJP leader Anurag Thakur on Tuesday said the opposition parties should stop commenting on the consecration ceremony of the Ram temple in Ayodhya as it has been built after a long wait of 500 years.

Thakur took part in cleaning the Hanuman mandir premises at Connaught Place on Tuesday, under a campaign to clean local temples launched by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ahead of the ceremony in Ayodhya on January 22.

"Some people are still not happy with the construction of the temple," Thakur told reporters when asked about the opposition parties' charge that the BJP and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) have turned the "pran pratishtha" ritual into a political event.

There are some who are pained at the construction of the temple, there are some who are pained by the "pran pratishtha" ceremony and then there are some who have to give statements on it for the sake of their politics, the Union minister said.

"I just want to say that they should stop commenting and giving such statements. The Ram temple in Ayodhya has come up after a wait of 500 years and crores of people from across the country and world will visit it in the coming days," he added.

Thakur said after the grand "pran pratishtha" ceremony on January 22, the doors of the Ram temple will be opened for devotees and arrangements will be made for their visit.

Hitting out at the Congress, Thakur said the opposition party had forced Lord Ram to stay in a tent in Ayodhya for years and was now trying to mislead and incite the people on the temple issue.

Thakur alleged that the Congress had tried to create hurdles in the construction of the Ram Temple, first by promising to rebuild the Babri mosque and later by sending a battery of lawyers to delay the building of the temple.

"Congress forced us to keep Lord Ram in a tent for years. These are the same people who described Lord Ram and Ram Setu as fictional. Then they promised to rebuild the Babri mosque," the senior BJP leader said.

"It is because of the devotion and struggle of crores of Ram devotees and activists, the wait of over 500 years is coming to an end," he said.

Thakur said only six days were left for the consecration of the Ram Temple and, as exhorted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the entire nation is immersed in devotion to Lord Ram and engaged in cleaning temples.

"This is a befitting reply to those who were seeking to know the date when the Ram Temple would be rebuilt. Now that we have conveyed the date, time and place and also sent an invitation to them, they are running helter-skelter to avoid attending the consecration ceremony," Thakur said.

The senior BJP leader said the Congress first claimed not to have received the invitation and when they were invited, the opposition party was making different excuses for not attending the event.

"They delayed the construction of the Ram temple and now they are trying to mislead and incite the people," Thakur said.

The Union Minister also hit out at AAP convenor and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and claimed that the Delhi government had oppressed temple priests in the national capital.

"These are the same people who, before joining politics, made promises of a corruption-free government. But not AAP has given the most corrupt government. Their deputy chief minister, ministers and MPs are in jail," Thakur said. PTI