 "PM Modi, Narendra Modi")
In a speech replete with quotations from Hindu scriptures, including from Ramcharitmanas, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said his government had in the past 10 years followed the tenets of ‘Ram Rajya’ — of ensuring sushasan (good governance), and of devoting all taxes collected for the welfare of the people.
Addressing a gathering after inaugurating the new campus of the National Academy of Customs, Indirect Taxes and Narcotics (NACIN) in Andhra Pradesh's Palasamudram, the PM urged tax officials to draw inspiration from Lord Ram's life. The entire country was swathed in devotion to Lord Ram as it awaited the pran pratishtha (consecration) of the Ram temple in Ayodhya on January 22, he said.
The PM is on a two-day visit to Andhra Pradesh and Kerala. In Andhra Pradesh on Tuesday, he prayed at the Veerabhadra Temple in Lepakshi, where he listened to verses from the Ranganatha Ramayana in Telugu. Earlier in the day, he posted a rendition of the Ramayana in Kannada on X. He also wished people in English and Tamil on Thiruvalluvar Day. On Wednesday, he will pray at Kerala's Guruvayur and Thriprayar Shree Ramaswami temples.
In his address at the new NACIN campus, the PM spoke of Mahatma Gandhi's conception of Ram Rajya and alluded to Goswami Tulsidas’ Ramcharitmanas in relation to tax collections and optimum utilisation of resources. He detailed his government's taxation reforms, record tax revenues, action against corruption, removal of 100 million fake beneficiaries, spending on the welfare of the poor, and building modern infrastructure. According to a NITI Aayog discussion paper, 250 million people had been lifted out of poverty in the past nine years, which was historic and unprecedented, Modi said.
The PM said he was undergoing an 11-day special anushthan before the consecration. Tamil Nadu Governor R N Ravi, Union ministers Anurag Thakur, Jitendra Singh and others also visited temples as part of a drive to clean temples and places of pilgrimage.
Difficult to attend 'political function': Rahul
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In Nagaland, meanwhile, addressing the first press conference of his Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said the Ram temple consecration event in Ayodhya had been turned into a "Narendra Modi and RSS-BJP function" with an "election flavour". Gandhi said Hindu dharma for him was a way of life, and he tried to live by its principles, adding that those who "don't believe in it need to wear it on their shirt".
"The RSS (Rashtriya Sawayamsevak Sangh) and the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) have made the January 22 function a completely political Narendra Modi function. That is why the Congress president (Mallikarjun Kharge) said he would not attend. We are open to all religions, all practices. Even the biggest authorities of the Hindu religion have made their views public on what they think about the January 22 event — that it is a political function," Gandhi said in his first remarks about the Congress leadership turning down invitation to attend the ceremony.
"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 so," he said. Leaders from the Congress' Uttar Pradesh unit and also its Rajya Sabha member from Haryana, Deepender Hooda, visited Ayodhya's Hanumangarhi Temple on Monday.
Among other INDIA bloc constituents, Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee announced that she would lead her party's "religious harmony" rally on January 22, beginning from Kolkata's Kalighat temple and visiting a church, a gurdwara and a mosque. The Trinamool Congress will carry out similar rallies across the state that day.
In Delhi, the ruling Aam Aadmi Party organised recitations from Ramcharitmanas at several places, with Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his wife attending one in the Rohini locality.
