New Delhi, Sep 3 (IANS) The Congress on Thursday criticised the appointment of Air Marshal (Retd) Jeetendra Mishra as the first Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust, saying that such an act “will raise doubts” among people while saying that a seer should have been appointed to the post instead.
This comes even as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came down heavily on the Congress earlier in the day, with party’s national spokesperson Pradeep Bhandari accusing the grand old party of having “anti-Army” mindset.
“I am surprised to see how both Congress and Pakistan have been deprived of sleep ever since India delivered a befitting response to Pakistani terrorism through ‘Operation Sindoor’, particularly, since the time, our soldiers and forces struck deep inside Pakistani territory,” Bhandari said during a press conference.
Speaking to IANS, Congress leader Rashid Alvi said: “The faiths of crores of people are being played with; investigation into the theft of offerings (at the Ram Temple) have not been completed. Everyone knows who helped whom to carry out the robbery. This could not have been possible without the members of the Trust… it is wrong to appoint a military officer as the CEO of Ram Temple.”
“Instead, a person having links with the Ram Temple, should have been appointed the CEO,” he asserted.
He claimed that appointing a retired Air Force officer as the CEO, “raises a lot of questions”.
“The Ram Mandir verdict came from the Supreme Court. Among those judges, you (Centre) made one a Governor and another a Rajya Sabha member. Doubts arose in people’s minds. You made the Air Force officer who conducted Operation Sindoor, the CEO of the Ram Mandir. Won’t people think that the Union government is trying to hide some truth?” he said, reiterating a previous statement.
Earlier on Thursday, BJP MP Sudhanshu Trivedi hit back at Rashid Alvi’s “hidden truth” remark, saying that it has exposed the “Dimagi Naxal” mindset of the party.
Echoing similar view as Alvi, Congress MP Imran Masood said: “This work was meant to be done by the saints and seers. Could they not find an honest saint or seer? Theft happened only because the work was taken away from them. Otherwise, was the work for Ram Lalla not already going on? The work has been underway there for years.”
Opposing Mishra’s appointment as the CEO, Congress MP Nana Patole asked: “Is a new system being made to again steal offerings and donations at the temple?” while mentioning that the work of seers should have been handed over to them.
Congress leader Harish Rawat said: “This Temple Trust belongs to a specific organisation while Lord Ram belongs to everyone. The all-encompassing, omnipresent nature of Lord Ram is not reflected in this Trust and neither the Sanatan Dharma is reflected in it.”
–IANS
cg/khz