140 crore Indians won't forgive Congress for turning down Ram temple event invite: Jyotiraditya Scindia

Union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said on Sunday that the country's 140 crore people won't forgive Congress for the "sin" it has committed by declining the invitation for the Ram temple consecration on January 22. He also heaped praise on Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying the PM has been tirelessly working for the temple cause.

"Congress lawyers told the court that Ram was imaginary. The trust invited Congress leaders to the Ram temple consecration function on January 22, but they turned it down," said the Union civil aviation minister at a public meeting.

"The country's 140 crore people will not forgive Congress for committing this sin," said the scion of the erstwhile Gwalior kingdom.


The country has waited for a "son" (Modi) who will lead the nation for the consecration of the Ram temple, he said.

Seeking to highlight his family's connections with the temple movement and BJP, he said, "Rajmata (Jyotiraditya's grandmother Vijayraje Scindia) picked up the saffron flag and rolled out a new ideology." Vijayraje was one of the founding members of BJP.

Scindia said, "That time the prime minister (Modi) had hopped onto the Rath (taken out by BJP patriarch LK Advani then for Ram temple movement) and crisscrossed the country for awakening."

His (Modi's) sacrifice will bear fruit tomorrow, said the minister.

"He (Modi) has inspected each stone and pebble (used in the Ram temple construction) and was seeking blessings at Ram temples since the last 11 days in the run-up to the consecration ceremony," he said.

Scindia said Modi was giving free ration to 80 crore people for five years.

In the last nine years, the poor have got four crore houses, while 10 crore women have got cooking gas connections, he added.