Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday alluded to the Mahatma's concept of ‘Ram Rajya' in the context of the court verdict on the Ayodhya title suits, instantly drawing flak from Gandhians and Congress leaders.
After garlanding the statues of the Mahatma and Kasturba Gandhi, and attending an all-religion prayer meeting at Kirti Mandir, ancestral home of Gandhiji in Porbandar, Mr. Modi, in a chat with journalists, said it was a good omen that the Allahabad High Court's judgment paving the way for construction of a Ram temple at Ayodhya came just two days before the Mahatma's birth anniversary.
He said Lord Ram always had a “special place” in Gandhiji's life and the Father of the Nation dreamt of establishing a “Ram Rajya” after Independence. “Let us all take inspiration from the Mahatma this day [Gandhi Jayanthi] to renew our faith in the concept of Ram Rajya,” he said. Mr. Modi wrote similar lines in the visitors' book at Kirti Mandir.
At this, Gandhians and some Congress leaders pointed out that Mahatma Gandhi had dreamt of “Ram Rajya” and not of the Ram temple. Advising Mr. Modi to translate into action Gandhiji's “true concept of Ram Rajya,” they said the Mahatma never supported any move that could even remotely bring about communal disharmony among various sections.
Later, addressing election rallies in Porbandar and Bhavnagar, Mr. Modi attacked the Congress. He claimed that the Delhi Commonwealth Games would go down in history for the “large-scale corruption among Congress leaders.”
