The DMK on Sunday launched a scathing attack over the consecration of the Ram temple at Ayodhya, alleging that the BJP government at the Centre had made a gimmick of consecrating an incomplete temple in view of the upcoming Lok Sabha election.
In a statement here, DMK Parliamentary Party leader T.R. Baalu said the BJP government, after “hunting down the people of the country in every way in the last ten years”, was now claiming that it had completed the construction of the Ram temple. “Faith in God is an individual’s spiritual quest. It is an individual’s right. Using bhakti as a capital for political mobilisation and vote-bank politics is against the soul of India and values of the Constitution. It is not good for the nation’s future,” he said.
Mr. Baalu said capitalising on individuals’ faith and right was against democratic norms and spiritual values. “It is unacceptable that the BJP government and Prime Minister Narendra Modi sought to deceive the people by highlighting the construction and consecration of a temple as an achievement,” he said.
“The able and discerning people of India will reject the BJP government’s attempt to convert a spiritual festival into a political festival,” he added.
Mr. Baalu said it was highly condemnable that the BJP had sought to use a temple festival for laying the stone for its ‘Mother rashtra’. “It does not augur well for the country that the BJP is continuing its efforts to destroy India’s character of unity in diversity. Instead of doing good for the people, the party tries to win through means of deceit. The people of India will teach it a fitting lesson,” he said.
He further said that the DMK, which had been following the dictum of one race and one religion since the days of its founder C.N. Annadurai, was deeply committed to secularism, reiterated in the Constitution. “It [the DMK] is against hate-politics, and is dedicated to harmonious politics filled with fraternalism. It never took advantage of the ideas of linking politics with bhakti and spiritualism...,” he said.
Mr. Baalu said though the DMK government led by Chief Minister M.K. Stalin had renovated and performed ‘kumbabishekam’ for thousands of temples, and reclaimed temple properties to the tune of ₹5,381 crore, it never spoke about them on election platforms for the sake of vote bank politics.
