The Samajwadi Party on Friday sought an apology from Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath over his remark that he would not attend the inauguration of the mosque to be built in Ayodhya, replacing the demolished Babri Masjid.
In an interview to a television channel Thursday, Adityanath said he couldn’t go for the mosque inauguration “as a yogi and as a Hindu”.
Reacting to the remark, the opposition SP said he should seek an apology from the people of the state. When contacted, a UP Congress spokesperson, however, refused to comment on the chief minister’s remarks over the mosque.
“If you ask me as a Chief Minister, I have no problem with any belief, religion or community. If you ask me as a Yogi, I will definitely not go because as a Hindu I have the right to express my ”Upasana Vidhi” (way of worship) and act accordingly,” Yogi Adityanath said.
“I am neither ”vaadi or “prativadi” (petitioner nor respondent). That is why neither will I be invited, nor will I go. I know, I won’t be getting any such invitation,” he said.
UP Congress media cell convenor Lalan Kumar said, “We don’t have any comments on his mosque statement.”
But he credited the former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi for opening the locks on the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid.
Referring to the ruling BJP, the Congress spokesperson said, “They play politics of fake Hindutva. The Congress has always talked about whatever is in the interest of people.”
“Lord Ram is everyone’s, but the BJP wants to show that Ram is theirs alone,” he added.
Yogi Adityanath had attended the groundbreaking ceremony Wednesday for a Ram temple in Ayodhya, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the main guest.
Last November, the Supreme Court had settled the Ayodhya land dispute, allowing the construction of the temple at Ram Janmabhoomi by a trust.
The top court had also ordered the allocation of a five-acre plot of land elsewhere in Ayodhya for the construction of a mosque, in place of the Babri Masjid which was demolished in 1992. A trust has been formed by the Sunni Waqf Board for building this mosque.
