NEW DELHI, Jan 15: Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Wednesday described RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat’s remarks that India’s “true independence” was established on the day of the Ram temple’s consecration as “anti-national” and demanded an apology over the statement.
Ramesh’s remarks came after Bhagwat said the date of the Ram temple’s consecration in Ayodhya should be celebrated as “Pratishtha Dwadashi” as the “true independence” of Bharat, which had faced “parachakra” (enemy attack) for several centuries, was established on this day.
“Shri Mohan Bhagwat has made ridiculous statements frequently. But even by his lowest of low standards, his latest pronouncement is not just astonishing but downright anti-national,” the Congress leader said in a post on X.
It is not only a gross insult to Mahatma Gandhi and that remarkable generation that secured freedom for the country, but also yet another assault on the Constitution that came into effect on January 26, 1950, he added.
“Shri Bhagwat should immediately apologise for his outrageous remarks, which reflect the mindset of an ideology that neither participated in the freedom movement nor gave respect to the Father of the Nation and Dr Ambedkar during their lifetimes,” Ramesh said.
Bhagwat said on Monday that after India got political independence from the British on August 15, 1947, a written Constitution was made according to the path shown by that specific vision, which comes out of the “self” of the country, but the document was not run according to the spirit of the vision at that time.
He was speaking after presenting the “National Devi Ahilya Award” to Champat Rai, general secretary of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust, in Indore.
Two days after the first anniversary of the Ram temple’s consecration, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief said the date should be celebrated as “Pratishtha Dwadashi” as the true independence of India, which had faced “parachakra” (enemy attack) for several centuries, was established on this day. (Agencies)
Follow our WhatsApp channel
