Shashi Tharoor says 'remarks distorted' as BJP accuses Congress of working against Ram temple in Ayodhya

Shashi Tharoor accused the media of distorting his words said that whatever he said was his personal opinion and not his party's.

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor. PTI Photo

NEW DELHI: Congress leader Shashi Tharoor came under fire from the ruling BJP for his remark in which he said that no good Hindu wants to see Ram temple built after demolishing another religion's place of worship, referring to the disputed Babri Masjid site in Ayodhya. Though the senior Congressmen later said his remarks were distorted by the media but the BJP latched the opportunity to accuse the Congress of using its leaders to build a momentum against the construction of a Ram temple in Ayodhya. "Ram is the ethos of the nation. People want and have fought for a Ram temple for 500 years after it was destroyed. What Shashi Tharoor is saying must be the view of Rahul Gandhi and his that they do not want the temple at the Ram's birthplace," Union Minister Prakash Javadekar told PTI. He said it was astonishing and shocking to hear from Tharoor that a "real Hindu" would not wish temple at the Babri mosque site. "Ram temple will be built only at Ram's birthplace. It is so natural. It was Ram temple which was destroyed and all proofs are before the Supreme Court. BJP wants a magnificent temple at the site," he said. The Congress, however, distanced itself from Shashi Tharoor's remarks, saying he made them in his "personal capacity". Congress spokesperson R P N Singh said: "I have not heard his statement. He has clarified that whatever he said has said that in his personal capacity." Later in the day, Shashi Tharoor accused the media of distorting his words said that whatever he said was his personal opinion and not his party's. "I condemn the malicious distortion of my words by some media in the service of political masters. I had said, ‘Most Hindus would want a temple at what they believe to be Ram's birthplace. But no good Hindu would want it to be built by destroying another's place of worship'," Tharoor said in a tweet on Monday. "I was asked for my personal opinion at a literary festival and gave it as such. I am not a spokesperson for my party and did not claim to be speaking for it," he added.