Tuesday, 25 November 2025
Tuesday, 25 November 2025
Congress leaders criticised the hoisting of the saffron flag atop the Ram Mandir held in Ayodhya on Tuesday morning by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, alleging that the government was politicising faith during a landmark ceremony that marked the architectural completion of the temple.
Congress leader Rashid Alvi questioned the symbolism of the act and said India has no state religion under the Constitution.
He asked why the Prime Minister chose to hoist such a flag on a temple. “Will he hoist a flag on a mosque, Gurudwara or a church? He wants to hoist the flag on the Ram Mandir for political benefit so that he can benefit in the UP elections, instigating religious sentiments in the country. He should learn secularism from Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru,” Alvi said.
Congress MP Imraan Masood said faith was a personal matter protected by the Constitution and noted that there was no issue with the right to practise it.
The Uttar Pradesh Congress chief Ajay Rai, said the government was only doing marketing in the name of religion. He said pran pratishtha and flag hoisting rituals were always performed together and that holding separate ceremonies suggested an attempt at advertising.
During the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Faizabad constituency, home to the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya, delivered an unexpected verdict as Samajwadi Party candidate Awadhesh Prasad defeated the BJP’s Lallu Singh, despite Modi having inaugurated the Ayodhya temple earlier that year.
The criticism from the opposition came on a day when Modi and Bhagwat jointly hoisted the saffron flag in what the government described as a moment of civilisational resurgence.
The ceremony took place beneath a Shikhar built in the traditional North Indian Nagara architectural style, while the surrounding 800 metre Parkota, constructed in the South Indian architectural tradition, highlighted the architectural diversity of the complex.
Before the flag hoisting, Modi and Bhagwat took part in an aarti and prayers.
The Prime Minister said the wounds and pain of centuries were finding solace.
Calling the religious flag a banner of India’s civilisational renaissance, he highlighted its saffron colour, the depiction of the Suryavansh lineage, the inscribed word Om and the Kovidar tree embossed on it.
He said the Dharmadhwaj would inspire future generations to stand by their word and emphasised the message of Karmapradhan vishwa rachi rakha, which stresses the primacy of action and duty.
Modi urged citizens visiting Ayodhya to see the Sapt Mandapam and called the mandaps as embodiments of faith, friendship, duty and social harmony. “Our Ram unites through emotion, not division, what matters to him is devotion, not lineage,” he said.
The Prime Minister said India must free itself from the mentality of slavery within the next decade and criticised the colonial era mindset that he said lingered even after independence.
“We began to believe that anything of foreign origin is superior and what is ours is inferior. It was said that our Constitution was inspired by foreign constitutions, but the truth is that India is the mother of democracy. Democracy is in our DNA,” he said.
RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat said the completion of the Mandir had made all efforts meaningful and that the flag of Ram Rajya had been hoisted.
He said Hindu society had finally established its truth after 500 years. “So many people sacrificed their lives for it, their souls found peace today,” he said.
