BJP applauds NSS stance on Ayodhya, challenges 'Congress-Communist alliance'

Thiruvananthapuram: Buoyed by an influential Kerala Nair community outfit's stance against those refusing the Ram temple invitation, the BJP on Thursday said it was an "eye-opener for the Congress-Communist alliance," accusing them of disrespecting a sacred event and offending Hindu sentiments.

Welcoming the statement of the Nair Service Society (NSS) General Secretary G Sukumaran Nair, who asserted that boycotting the event at Ayodhya on political grounds was "irreverence towards God," BJP Kerala State President K Surendran said the stand taken by the outfit fosters confidence in the Hindu community.

In a Facebook post, Surendran said, "a clear stance, instilling confidence in the hearts of the Hindu community," while sharing a copy of the statement issued by the influential Nair outfit.

He said it would help strengthen the unity of the Hindu community.

Senior BJP leader and Union Minister V Muraleedharan also praised the NSS's position on the matter, stating that the Nair outfit's stand should serve as "an eye-opener for the Congress-Communist alliance, which has once again disrespected the faith of the majority" by declining the invitation to the January 22 ceremony in Ayodhya.

In a Facebook post, Muraleedharan said "the great temple in Ayodhya" represents the culmination of a 500-year wait for Sanatana devotees.

Criticising the Congress and the Communists for rejecting the invitation to the Ayodhya ceremony, the Union Minister stated that insulting God's holy land is tantamount to 'insulting God'.

"It is clear under whose influence the INDI alliance boycotted the ceremony. The God-believing people of Kerala will respond to this appeasement politics," he added.

Immediately following the "respectful" decline of the invitation by top Congress leaders to attend the Ram Temple consecration ceremony, NSS stated on Wednesday that boycotting such an initiative in the name of politics is irreverence towards God.

"If any organisation or political party is opposing it, it is only for their selfish and political gains," Sukumaran Nair said in the statement.

The outfit clarified that it was not adopting this stance for political motives or to support a specific political party, as it has been cooperating with the construction of the Ram Temple from the start in the name of God.

While declining the invitation, Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge, former party president Sonia Gandhi, and Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Wednesday accused the BJP of turning it into a "political project" for electoral gains and asserted that religion was a "personal matter." In 2021, the NSS had contributed Rs 7 lakh towards the construction of the Ram Temple at Ayodhya.