Religion Not For Political Misuse, Temples Not BJP's Business: Shashi Tharoor (Photo on X - Shashi Tharoor @ShashiTharoor)

Accusing the government of using religion for political benefits, the Congress leader and MP Shashi Tharoor said that the temples are not the government’s business. The government businesses, he says, are unemployment, inflation, public welfare and national security.

Tharoor further accused the media of playing in the “hands of those who want to milk political benefits from the Ram Mandir while distracting them from the governance failure,” an indirect reference to the BJP government’s Ram Mandir event.  He was talking to the media persons when asked if he was invited to the Ram Temple event at Ayodhya. Tharoor later took to the social media platform X saying: “was interrogated by the waiting press, wanting to know if I would be going to Ayodhya on January 22. I told them I hadn’t been invited but I saw religion as a personal attribute and not one for political misuse.”

In his post on X (formerly Twitter), he also accused the media of allowing the temple discussion as the main news story while turning the focus away from the issues that the country is facing.

Was interrogated by the waiting press, wanting to know if I would be going to Ayodhya on January 22. I told them I hadn’t been invited but I saw religion as a personal attribute and not one for political (mis)use.

I also pointed out that by making such a major news story of the… pic.twitter.com/LQpybKbT3t

— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) December 27, 2023

However, many people including politicians, celebrities and other prominent figures have been invited to the Ram Temple event scheduled to be held on January 22. Many opposition leaders were also invited to the event, including the congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, Sonia Gandhi and CPI(M) secretary Sitaram Yechury. Yechury had on Tuesday refused the invitation, criticizing the government for mixing regions with politics. Though the congress party have not said anything about attending the event, congress leader Sam Pitroda said religion should be mixed with politics asking that is Ram Mandir the real issue or if Inflation is a real issue.

“I have no problem with any religion. It is okay to go visit the temple once in a while, but you can”t make that the main platform. 40 per cent of the people vote for BJP, and 60 per cent of the people do not vote for BJP. He is everybody”s Prime Minister and not a party”s Prime Minister and that”s the message the people of India want him to have. Talk about employment, talk about inflation, talk about science and technology and challenges. They (people) have to decide what are the real issues- is Ram Mandir the real issue? Or unemployment is a real issue. Is Ram Mandir the real issue or Inflation is a real issue?” Sam Pitroda told the news agency ANI.