Shankaracharyas deflate Congress bid on Ram temple?

New Delhi: No one really thought Sonia Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge would attend the Ayodhya Ram Temple's consecration ceremony  on January 22 as correctly reported by NewsDrum. 

But it took the Congress party 20 days to announce they won't go because the party's strategists wanted to frame a structured narrative for the refusal.

So, firstly, nine days after invitations were personally delivered to Sonia and Kharge, the Congress said it would communicate their decision to participate in the opening ceremony at an appropriate time.

Finally, the party chose January 10 as the appropriate day for declining the invitation. 

By then, however, other opposition parties including CPI(M) had declined the invitation, accusing the BJP of mixing religion with politics.

But Congress wanted a more compelling reason to distance itself from the Jan 22 event. So, it decided to wait for a few days before denouncing the whole consecration ceremony.

Among the four Shankaracharyas, Swami Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati of Jyotirmath Badrinath denounced the consecration ceremony saying it cannot take place in an incomplete temple.

Congress not only picked up this line but said all the Shankaracharayas opposed the consecration as the others said they were not attending the ceremony.

For the record, Shankaracharya of Shri Shringeri Sharda Peeth and Dwarka Sharda Peeth welcomed (the consecration ceremony). Both of them said they were happy and did not have any grievances with it.

They will, however, visit the Ram temple "as per their convenience later”.

Govardhan Peeth Sankaracharya Nischalnand Saraswati said that he is happy with the construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya and that he will visit the temple at his convenience later.

Avimukteshwaranand, whose appointment as Shankaracharya is disputed and is fighting a case in the Supreme Court, himself revealed that he was not invited.

In an interview with Karan Thapar for TheWire.in, he said that he would not have attended even if he had been invited.

The apex court had stopped his coronation in October 2022 after Solicitor General Tushar Mehta informed the bench that the Shankaracharya of Govardhan Math in Puri filed an affidavit that the appointment of Avimukteshwaranand as the new Shankaracharya of the Jyotish Peeth has not been endorsed.

Avimukteshwaranand, even before the SC order, has been seen on the other side of the Modi government.

After the Supreme Court pronounced the order in favour of building the Ram Temple, Avimukteshwaranand triggered a controversy by suggesting a golden Ram temple in Ayodhya, instead of the one based on the VHP’s model, which was prepared around 30 years ago.

The VHP had then accused Avimukteshwaranand of creating hurdles in the construction of the Ram temple.

Cut to today. Many accuse Congress of finding a friend in a disputed Shankaracharya to denounce the ceremony whereas others blame the grand old party for appropriating other Shankaracharyas to falsely claim that all of them are opposing the consecration ceremony.

BJP leaders have accused the Congress of attempting to create a divide between the Shankaracharyas and their followers.