Ministers and BJP leaders on Wednesday rushed to accuse the Congress of being “anti-Hindu” and “anti-Ram”, seeking to draw political mileage out of the principal Opposition party’s decision not to attend the January 22 inauguration of the Ram temple in Ayodhya by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Information and broadcasting minister Anurag Singh Thakur claimed it was expected that the Congress would “boycott” the Ram temple event given its “anti-Hindu” track record.

“The Congress’s character can never change. It is the same Congress that described Lord Ram as an imaginary figure, that talked about rebuilding the Babri mosque, that keeps on speaking against anything associated with Lord Ram, that uses its allies to put down Sanatan Dharma...,” Thakur said, adding that there was “nothing new” in the decision taken by the Congress.

“Today when the Congress has decided to boycott the Pran Pratistha ceremony, it can be clearly seen that the people of India will also boycott them,” he added.

Women and child development minister Smriti Irani responded on similar lines. “The Congress party’s anti-Lord Ram face has been exposed before the country. They had earlier presented documents in court denying the existence of Lord Ram and now they have declined the Pran Pratistha invitation,” she said.

“INDI Alliance leaders, under the leadership of the Congress, have always opposed Sanatan (Dharma) and their denying the invitation is in line with their hate for Sanatan,” Irani added.

The BJP posted a video on its X account, recalling how Jawaharlal Nehru had similarly declined an invitation to attend a ceremony at Somnath temple in Gujarat.

Slogans of “Congress Ram virodhi (Congress against Ram)” and “Sanatan ka apman, Congress ki hai yehi pehchan (Insult of Sanatan, this is the Congress’s identity)” featured in the short video.

Internally, BJP leaders said they had expected that the Congress leadership would decline the invitation and hoped to draw political mileage out of it.

Party strategists believed that the Ram temple issue would earn them a double bonanza: powering the BJP’s Lok Sabha polls campaign and driving a wedge in the Opposition bloc.

Nitish Kumar’s JDU has already cautioned INDIA bloc members against passing remarks on the Ram temple event, stressing that it could hurt popular sentiments. Taking a divergent line, the party has already declared that it will attend the event if invited, pointing out that the Supreme Court has paved the way for the construction of the temple.

“The Congress’s decision to decline the Ram temple ceremony strengthens our charge of the party being anti-Hindu,” a BJP leader said.

Party leaders said they would soon run a sustained campaign to highlight how the Congress and the INDIA bloc were “deeply anti-Hindu”.

“This is not a coincidence but a well-thought-out plan by the INDI Alliance to hurt the beliefs of Hindus, a conspiracy to insult them.... 140 crore Indians will never forgive this politics of hatred by the Congress,” BJP spokesperson Jaiveer Shergill, who not long ago was with the Congress, said.