Guwahati, Jan 16: Assam Chief Minister, Himanta Biswa Sarma, on Tuesday accused Congress leader Rahul Gandhi of politicising the Pran Pratishtha ceremony of the Ram Temple, slated for January 22, responding to comments made by the latter.

Speaking to reporters, Sarma said, “Rahul Gandhi is politicising the Pran Pratishtha program. It is not a political program; it is a religious program because it is a historic day for all of us. It is a day of triumph for Indian civilisation. Your (Rahul Gandhi) political associates have boycotted the function, thereby turning it into a political function, which it is not.”

He added, “If Congress also goes and sits in the front row, there is no politics. Congress is politicising the event, which is a religious event.”

Sarma asserted that Congress has created a political overtone surrounding the function, claiming it to be a simple religious event. He accused Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi of introducing an anti-Hindu notion, thereby making it a political event.

“Everybody will go and have a darshan of Ram Lala, and they will come back. Nobody will give any political speech. It’s the Congress party that has made it a political event,” Sarma further clarified.

This response comes after Rahul Gandhi announced on Tuesday that Congress had decided to skip the Pran Pratishtha ceremony in Ayodhya on January 22, citing its perceived nature as “an election and political function”.

Rahul Gandhi criticised the BJP for injecting an election-oriented tone into various occasions, including religious ones, stating, “It is difficult for us to attend the January 22 function because it is Modi’s event.” He also highlighted concerns from top Hindu religious leaders regarding the event’s political entanglements with the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.