‘Will PM Modi decide who goes to temples?’: Rahul Gandhi after being ‘stopped from visiting shrine’ in Assam

‘Will PM Modi decide who goes to temples?’: Rahul Gandhi after being ‘stopped from visiting shrine’ in Assam

Congress workers Monday staged a sit-in in Assam’s Haiboragaon after Rahul Gandhi was allegedly stopped from entering the Sri Sri Sankar Dev Satra temple in Assam’s Nagaon.

Rahul Gandhi, along with other Congress leaders, was stopped at Haiboragaon and not allowed to proceed further. The former Congress chief was scheduled to pay obeisance to the local deity before starting his Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra on Monday.

According to news agency PTI, Gandhi slammed the authorities for stopping him from visiting the temple and questioned if Prime Minister Narendra Modi would now decide who will visit the temple and when.

“Will PM Modi now decide who will visit a temple and when,” Gandhi said. “We do not want to create any problems, simply pray at the temple,” Gandhi told the police authorities.

The authorities have only allowed local MPs and MLAs to travel beyond Haiboragaon, around 20 km from the temple spot.

The Batadrava Than management, according to PTI, asked Gandhi to visit the shrine “after 3 pm” when the Ayodhya Ram Temple’s ‘Pran Pratishtha’ ceremony would be over.

Congress Sewa Dal chief Lalji Desai, speaking to PTI, called the act “shameful.” “This is atrocious. It is unfortunate that the prime minister will decide who will pray at what time in the country,” he said.

“Till the time the prime minister does pooja (in Ayodhya), no one is allowed to pray anywhere,” Desai claimed. “There is no ‘loktantra’ (democracy) here and the government will decide when people will pray at temples,” he added.

The Assam leg of the march will continue till January 25. It will travel 833 km in 17 districts. The Yatra, led by the Congress MP, commenced from Manipur on January 14 and will culminate on March 20 in Mumbai. It has been planned that the Yatra will cover 6,713 km in 67 days while passing through 110 districts in 15 states.

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