Ram Temple Inauguration: Himanta Biswa Sarma Calls Rahul Gandhi "Ravan"

When asked a question about Congress' Nyay Jodo Yatra led by MP Rahul Gandhi, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Monday ducked the question saying let's not talk about Ravan, the 10-headed demon king mentioned in the Ramayana. "Why are you talking of Ravan?" "At least talk about Ram today? After 500 years, today is a good day to talk about Ram. Today at least let us not talk of Ravan," Assam CM told a reporter.

Hemanta Biswa Sarma slammed Congress for declining the Ram Mandir inauguration invitation. The invite went to Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge, Sonia Gandhi, and Congress leader in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, who declined the invite saying it was a religious event hijacked by the BJP and the RSS.

Earlier, Rahul Gandhi said, "The RSS and the BJP have made the January 22 function a completely political, Narendra Modi function. It has become an RSS-BJP function"

"It is difficult for us to go to a political function, which is designed around the prime minister of India and the RSS. We have made it clear that whoever among our partners or our party would like to visit the Ram temple is welcome to do it. It is difficult for us to visit (the temple) on January 22. That this is a prime minister's function and an RSS function and we are going to attend it ... it is not possible," Congress MP had said.

On Congress' jibe, the Union minister and BJP leader Rajeev Chandrasekhar said "Rahul Gandhi lives in a la-la world. He thinks everything he says is predicated on nobody understanding the truth and he can get away with these atrocious lies."