Shimla: Himachal Pradesh minister Vikramaditya Singh, son of the late former chief minister Virbhadra Singh, will attend Ram Lalla’s pran pratishtha ceremony on the Ram temple in Ayodhya on 22 January, even because the central management of the Congress is but to take a name on the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Belief’s invitation to social gathering chief Mallikarjun Kharge and Sonia Gandhi.
Vikramaditya Singh, the general public works minister, is the one Congress chief in Himachal Pradesh to get an invite for the consecration ceremony.
“I have received an invitation from the Vishva Hindu Parishad and the temple trust, and I will attend the function,” Singh informed ThePrint. “This issue is above political lines for us. My father had contributed towards the construction of the Ram temple in his last days. He always supported the Ram Mandir movement.”
Singh mentioned he was doubtless invited as a result of the organisers “must have seen my father’s contribution”. “I have also said that I would follow in the footsteps of my father,” he added.
Talking to ThePrint, a senior chief of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) echoed Singh, saying the minister’s household had at all times been in favour of a Ram temple at Ayodhya.
“Former chief minister Virbahdra Singh believed that a Ram temple should be built in Ayodhya. He had once said ‘where else should it be made when Ayodhya is Shri Ram’s janmabhoomi (birthplace)?’” the chief added. “He had said that land for the temple could be provided even in Himachal Pradesh but Ayodhya is the right place.”
Whereas Vikramaditya Singh informed the press that Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu and state cupboard ministers may also go to Ayodhya, the CM mentioned they hadn’t been invited.
“So far, no invitation has been received from Ayodhya, but whether we get an invitation or not, Lord Ram is the centre of our aastha (faith) and we will follow the path shown by him,” he added, chatting with mediapersons.
A senior Congress chief from Himachal informed ThePrint that Vikramaditya Singh’s determination to attend the inauguration ceremony was “his personal decision, not of the party or the government”.
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‘Centre of religious sentiments’
When Virbhadra Singh died in 2021, senior Himachal Pradesh RSS functionary Professor Vir Singh Rangra had mentioned in an announcement that it was throughout the former’s tenure as CM “that an anti-conversion law was enacted for the first time in the state”.
Virbhadra Singh, the functionary mentioned, had attended a number of programmes organised by the RSS and was additionally in favour of the development of the Ram temple in Ayodhya.
The Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Belief, arrange by the Centre to construct and handle the temple, has despatched invites for the consecration ceremony to almost 8,000 folks, together with industrialists, actors and sports activities stars. Invites have additionally been despatched to a number of political leaders, together with these within the Opposition.
One other senior office-bearer of the state Congress mentioned invites ought to have been despatched to all chief ministers. “Invitation has been sent to our national president, and Sonia Gandhi ji. Ram mandir is a centre of our religious sentiments and our leadership should attend the function,” the chief added.
(Edited by Sunanda Ranjan)
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