Under fire from the BJP for not declaring a holiday in view of Monday’s Ram mandir consecration in Ayodhya, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah inaugurated a Ram Sita Lakshman temple and a 33-ft monolithic Hanuman idol at Mahadevapura in Bengaluru. Siddaramaiah told reporters that Congress leaders worshipped the Ram of Mahatma Gandhi and not the BJP’s version of the mythological figure, condemning “misinformation campaigns” against them. The Congress leader said that unlike the Ram Sita Lakshman temple inaugurated by him, the Ayodhya temple was built only for Ram. “Shri Rama cannot be alone. Sita Devi, Lakshman and Anjaneya should be there for it to be complete. They are dividing Shri Rama himself. This is not correct,” he said. Noting that there were repeated questions on whether he would go to Ayodhya, Siddaramaiah said he would visit the temple. “Is the idol (of Ram) not the same in all temples? Is Sriramachandra different from the idols in other (Ram) temples?” he asked, adding that there were many Ram temples across the state. “I have built one in my village too,” he said. Speaking at the inauguration of the temple, he said the slogan Jai Shri Ram was not anyone’s private property. “That is the property of every devotee,” he said, raising the slogan and asking the gathering to do so. Mahatma Gandhi, he said, was a great devotee of Ram and died with Ram’s name on his lips. “Congress party worships Mahatma Gandhi’s Ram and not BJP’s Ram,” he said. On the BJP branding him as “anti-Hindu” for not declaring a holiday for the consecration event, he said the central government too had declared only a half-day holiday. “The event is being held in Uttar Pradesh. Have the states of Punjab, Kerala, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Telangana declared a holiday?” he asked.
