Mamata Banerjee To Skip Ram Temple Event On Jan 22: Report

Mamata Banerjee will not attend the consecration ceremony of Ram Temple in Ayodhya on January 22.

Mamata Banerjee will not attend the Ram Temple consecration ceremony

West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee will not attend the consecration ceremony of Ram Temple in Ayodhya scheduled to take place on January 22, reported PTI quoting sources as saying on Wednesday.

The development comes a day after Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary Sitaram Yechury said he would not attend the event accusing the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Centre of converting the ceremony into a "state-sponsored" event. Earlier, CPI(M) leader Brinda Karat announced that the party won't attend the event. 

The consecration ceremony of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya will take place on Janaury 22 with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in attendance. 

West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee not to attend the inauguration of Ram Mandir in Ayodhya: Sources pic.twitter.com/5RnmAPoc7p

— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) December 27, 2023

Shri Ram Janambhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust has sent out the invitations to various political parties for the 'pran pratishtha' or the consecration ceremony including the Congress. Media reports have however suggested that party's top brass including Mallikarjun Kharge, Sonia Gandhi, and Adhir Ranjan Chowdhary may too give the event a miss. 

The opposition has been vocal in its criticism of the event. While saying that he won't attend the ceremony, Sitaram Yechury said, "What is happening in this inauguration ceremony is that it has been converted into a state-sponsored event with the Prime Minister, UP CM and others holding Constitutional positions." 

"This is straightforward politicisation of the religious belief of the people which is not in consonance with the Constitution. Therefore, in these circumstances, I regret not being able to attend the event," he said. 

Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal also called the event a "show-off" and accused the BJP of acting opposite to the traits possessed by Lord Ram. 

"This whole issue is a show-off. They (BJP) talk about Ram but their behaviour, their character are nowhere close to Lord Ram's. Truthfulness, tolerance, sacrifice, and respect for others are some of the traits of Lord Ram but they do exactly the opposite and say we are glorifying Ram," Sibal said when asked about the oppoisition's stance on the Ram temple issue.