Shashi Tharoor yet to receive invite to attend Ram Temple consecration: ‘Won’t visit before…’

Congress MP from Thiruvananthapuram Shashi Tharoor has expressed his desire to visit the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya. However, he said that he would visit the shrine in Uttar Pradesh “after the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections”. The Ram Mandir in Ayodhya will hold a consecration ceremony on January 22, which is set to be attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Bollywood actors Madhuri Dixit and Amitabh Bachchan, among others.  

Shashi Tharoor said he would not be visiting the Ram Mandir on the day of the 'grand political extravaganza'.

Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor also said his visit to the Ram Temple should not be interpreted politically. A day before, Shashi Tharoor said that for him religion is a personal attribute and not the government's business.

"Speaking for myself as a Hindu, I see a temple as a place to connect with the divine rather than a stage for political theatre," the writer of Why I Am a Hindu said.

Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor said the Opposition leaders should not be branded 'anti-Hindu' if they don't attend the consecration ceremony and neither should they be seen to be "playing into BJP hands" if they do.

On whether giving the consecration of the Ram Temple a miss could hurt the prospects of the Opposition INDIA bloc in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, Shashi Tharoor said, "People are trying to make it a political issue but is that fair?"

"Going to a temple is an individual decision. Individuals have been invited, let them make their own decisions. To my mind, a temple is absolutely not a political stage, it is a place for people to contemplate the divine and do their prayers and it is a personal choice. Individuals have been invited and letting individuals decide if they wish to go is my stand," Congress MP Shashi Tharoor added.

Claiming that he was yet to receive a formal invite to attend the Ram Temple consecration, Shashi Tharoor said, “As far as I am concerned, I have not been invited, so I don't have to make the decision.”

The chairman of the Ayodhya Ram Mandir Construction Committee invited former Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, and the party's leader in the Lok Sabha, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury for the consecration ceremony.

The Ram Temple invitations to the Congress's top leaders have put the party in a quandary as its United Democratic Front allies in Kerala and several Muslim bodies are not in favour of Congress leaders attending the event. The Congress leadership has also not committed to their stance -- on whether no Congress leader would attend the January 22 event.

The ceremony, scheduled for January 22, will witness the installation of the idol of Ram Lalla at the temple.