Uma Bharti wants Cong, Left to ‘atone’ by visiting Ayodhya

BJP leader Uma Bharti on Tuesday accused the Congress and Left parties of creating a ‘toxic atmosphere’ during the Ram Janmabhoomi agitation, and advised them to visit the new Ram temple at Ayodhya without invitation as an `atonement’.

Recounting her memories of the agitation of which she was a part, she also said the country’s first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru’s attempt to keep both Hindus and Muslims happy eventually led to the demolition of the Babri mosque on December 6, 1992.

“These leftists and Congressmen created a toxic atmosphere at that time. Now when they say we do not get invitation (for the January 22 consecration ceremony for the Ram temple), I would say your biggest atonement will be that you go there without invitation and take a dip in the river Saryu and stand in front of Lord Ram by holding ears (seeking forgiveness),” the former Union minister said.

Namaz was not offered at the disputed structure in Ayodhya even before Ram Lalla ”appeared” inside in 1949, Bharti claimed. ”At that time, (then prime minister) Nehru decided to lock the premises to appease Muslims and to allow puja in the morning and evening to please Hindus. The tradition of keeping both Hindus and Muslims happy started by Nehru became the reason for the structure’s demolition on December 6,” she said.

The Congress is in a dilemma due to this tradition as it has no faith in Ram or Ram Rajya and it was not even concerned with Muslims but only wanted votes, Bharti said. ”They have denied the existence of Ram and Ram-setu….and they can not deny this fact as there is an affidavit of the Congress government in the Supreme Court that Ram was an imaginary figure,” she said.

The BJP leader also claimed that Karsevaks (volunteers) who took part in the agitation were peaceful but they were shot in the head and chest without warning. Why then prime minister P V Narasimha Rao ignored this fact and did not initiate a trial against Mulayam Singh Yadav (then Uttar Pradesh chief minister) and police officials, she asked.

The disputes related to the religious places in Mathura and Kashi were before the courts, but like Ayodhya, Mathura and Kashi too are important places for the Hindus, Bharti said.The court can impose its decision on her, but not on her feelings that there should be a grand temple in Mathura where Lord Krishna was born, she said.

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