Congress hits back at BJP's Sudhanshu Trivedi over his Somnath temple remarks

New Delhi: The Congress on Thursday hit back at BJP leader Sudhanshu Trivedi over his claims that former prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru opposed the association of then president Rajendra Prasad with the Somnath temple, and said Nehru was "completely transparent".

Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said, "Sudanshu Trivedi has apparently waved some letters on air — of Pandit Nehru on the Somnath Temple. These and many other letters of Nehru, including to then Home Minister Rajaji and President Rajendra Prasad, are all in the public domain and form part of Vol 16-I of the Second Series of the Selected Works of Jawaharlal Nehru available online at http://nehruselectedworks.com."

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"Contrary to what Trivedi claims these constitute no great revelation. Nehru was completely transparent and left behind written records — written by him personally. Here is some correspondence on the subject that Mr. Trivedi did not exhibit," Ramesh said in a post on X while sharing the letters.

In Nehru's letter of March 11, 1951, shared by the Congress, the then prime minister told then home minister C Rajagopalachari that "I wrote to him that while there was obviously no objection to his visiting this temple or any other temple or other place of worship normally, on this particular occasion the inauguration of the temple would have a certain significance and certain implications. Therefore, for my part, I would have preferred if he did not associate himself in this way."

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"As the president is also anxious to associate himself with this function, I do not know whether it is desirable for me to insist that he should not do so. I propose, therefore, subject to your advice, to tell him that he can exercise his own discretion in the matter, although, I still think that it would be better for him not to go there," Nehru also said.

On March 13, 1951, Nehru also wrote to then president Rajendra Prasad on his visit to the Somnath temple, saying, "...If you feel that it will not be right for you to refuse the invitation, I would not like to press my point any further".

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Nehru wrote to Prasad again that his visit to Somnath temple is assuming "a certain political importance" and said that he was being asked questions about it in Parliament to which he was replying saying the government has nothing to do with it.

Earlier in the day, noting that Nehru was opposed to the association of then president Prasad and some leaders of the Congress with the rebuilding and inauguration of the Somnath temple, BJP leader Trivedi claimed the Congress is continuing with his legacy and has disowned the 'Ram Rajya' concept of Mahatma Gandhi.

Its government under Indira Gandhi had fired upon saints protesting against cow-slaughter and when its president was Sonia Gandhi, Lord Ram was described as an imaginary figure, he added.

Trivedi made the remarks after Congress leaders Mallikarjun Kharge, Sonia Gandhi and Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury "respectfully declined" the invitation to attend the Ram Temple consecration ceremony in Ayodhya, with the grand old party accusing the BJP of making it into a "political project" for electoral gains.