Trinamool MLA accused of insulting Ram Mandir now offers clarification

Kolkata, March 5 (IANS) Trinamool Congress MLA from Tarakeswar Assembly constituency in West Bengal, Ramendu Sinharay, whose controversial comments about Ram Mandir at Ayodhya went viral, on Tuesday offered clarifications.

He said that only a portion of his statement was being highlighted.

Reacting to the leader of the opposition in West Bengal Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari's sharing the video on his official X handle, Sinharay said that a small portion of his entire speech was referred to in the video and quoted out of context.

“Only a small portion of my entire speech, after deleting the major part of it, was projected in the video. That small portion is being circulated by the leader of the opposition in social media to mislead the people.

"My main argument was that as per Hindu rituals, the Pran Pratishtha of the idol or its worship cannot be done in an incomplete temple. All I wanted to say is that the official Pran Pratishtha ceremony ignoring the prescribed rituals was done with a political motive. Now I am being selectively quoted in the video to mislead people again with a political motive,” Sinharay said.

However, the state BJP leaders have dismissed his clarification.

While Suvendu Adhikari has threatened to file an FIR against Sinharay, BJP legislator Biman Ghosh has said, "Ram Mandir was established because of the initiative by Prime Minister Narendra Modi following an order of the Supreme Court of India.

"This order has been insulted in the comments by the ruling party legislator. The Hindu religious sentiments are being hurt because of such comments. We will be staging statewide protests against such comments. We are filing a complaint at the local Arambagh police station,” Ghosh said.

In the video that went viral, Sinharay was heard saying, "No Indian Hindu should go to offer prayers at the Ram Mandir which according to me is an unholy place. It is nothing but a showpiece.” He was heard saying this during a public meeting as per the video.