A fight broke out on Monday at the Ram temple in Ayodhya after a few individuals were observed vandalizing the Congress flag outside the temple. The flag is being stolen and damaged by people in a video that the news agency ANI uploaded to X, the previous Twitter platform. Police intervened when party supporters were observed fighting with vandals.
Police officers were observed calming things down and scattering the crowd as the disturbance intensified. Ayodhya's Congress Mahila in-charge Renu Rai said to reporters, “Some anti-social elements snatched our party flag and abused our party workers. This is a shameful and condemnable act. The temple (Ram temple) belongs to everyone.”
The Congress's Uttar Pradesh branch remained steadfast in its determination to carry out the visit to the city on Monday during "Makar Sankranti," even though the party's top leadership turned down an invitation to attend the consecration ceremony at the Ram temple in Ayodhya on January 22. Chief of the Uttar Pradesh Congress, Ajay Rai, reaffirmed that he and other Congressmen will carry out their plan to visit the temple town on Makar Sankranti. He said to reporters, “Isn't the statue of the deity Ram 'pran prathistit' ...we have come to pay respect to the god on a more auspicious day of Makar Sankranti.”
Along the way to Ayodhya are Ajay Rai, Aradhana Mishra, the leader of the Congress Legislature Party, and Dheeraj Gurjar, the national secretary with responsibility for the Congress. The Congress has out a press statement stating that senior leaders Deepender Singh Hooda and Avinash Pande will be traveling by air to Ayodhya to honor Ram Lalla.
The Congress leaders were chastised by the BJP, which described them as opportunists who would do anything to further their political agenda. Congress responded in retaliation. Last week, the invitation was turned down by Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, former President of the party Sonia Gandhi, and party leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury in the Lok Sabha. The Congress leadership underlined that religion is a "personal matter" and accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of using the event as a "political project" for electoral advantages, all the while politely declining the offer.
