'I just invited PM Modi to Kalki Dham for shilanyas, so what crime did I commit as a Congressman?'
Earlier this week, the Congress party expelled Acharya Pramod Krishnam for six years for 'anti-party activities'.
After getting expelled, Krishnam tweeted, 'Ram aur Rashtra par samjhauta nahi kiya ja sakta' and tagged Rahul Gandhi's X account.
Acharya's fault: He had attended the consecration of Ram Lalla at Ayodhya on January 22 -- one of the few Congress leaders to do so.
He later invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the shilanyas of Kalki Dham at Sambhal in Uttar Pradesh on February 19. Modi accepted the invitation and will be accompanied by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for the event.
Syed Firdaus Ashraf/Rediff.com spoke to Krishnam on why he was expelled and why even Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi whose confidant he was, could not help him out.
Were you served a show cause notice before being expelled from the Congress party?
I was not given any notice of expulsion. It was through the media that I came to know that I was expelled from the Congress party for six years. Till date, I have not got any notice.
Do you know what anti-party activity you indulged in, leading to your expulsion?
I know that because I went to Ayodhya for the Ram temple's pran pratishtha, which my party did not like. And later for my programme, I invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the shilanyas of the Kalki Dham which I feel the party leadership thought was anti-party activity.
Is there a feeling in the Congress leadership that the Ram mandir in Ayodhya is a BJP mandir and not that of Hindus?
I feel it is very wrong to feel this way. Every mandir, masjid or dhams or gurdwaras are all Sanatana Dharmic places. It is not right to associate any place of religious worship with any political party, but if they want to see it that way let them see that way.
They refused the invitation for consecration of Ram Lalla at Ayodhya for the same reason and it is their (party leadership's) viewpoint.
The Congress party holds the view that the Ram mandir was built after the Supreme Court judgment and not due to Prime Minister Modi's efforts.
There is no crime committed if Prime Minister Modi goes for this religious ceremony and that too of the consecration of Ram Lalla at Ayodhya. He is the prime minister of India and it was the order of the courts of India on whose instruction the Ram mandir was built.
The prime minister of India goes to a mandir, mosque, gurdwara and church too, so where is the problem? I fail to understand.
Maybe the Congress wants to maintain its secular image and therefore it felt it was not right to attend the consecration at Ayodhya?
The world knows that the Babri Masjid was demolished. The Shiv Sena has openly claimed that they demolished the Babri Masjid. Today the Congress party is in alliance with the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray party), so where has secularism gone?
Once upon a time the Congress had both right wing and left wing elements in the party. If there were representatives of the Gandhian thought of Ram Rajya, then there were leftist thought leaders too in the Congress following the Nehruvian ideology.
Why have the right wing leaders within the Congress disappeared gradually?
The Congress stopped following Mahatma Gandhi's footsteps, but instead has taken a Left leaning communist posture in its ideology today. Where will it head in the future?
Jyotiraditya Scindia has openly stated many times why he quit the Congress party. There are other leaders too -- R P N Singh, Jitin Prasada, Ashok Tanwar, Sushmita Dev -- who quit the Congress, but I never did, but the party expelled me.
I just invited PM Modi for Kalki Dham for shilanyas, so what crime did I commit as a Congressman?
Is it a crime to meet the prime minister of India?
As a Congress leader why didn't you invite Sonia Gandhi or for that matter Rahul Gandhi for your Kalki Dham event rather than inviting PM Modi and UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath?
I met Yogi Adityanath and invited him for the event; he is coming.
When someone gives me time to meet, only then can I go and give the invitation. I went to CM Yogi and asked for time for the invite. He gave me time and then I invited him for the event.
Rahul Gandhi never gave me time to meet him for the invitation. I then sent a letter of invitation to him. I have been asking for an appointment with Rahul Gandhi for more than a year, but I never got that appointment as a Congress leader.
Why not invite Priyanka Gandhi with whom you had good relations politically?
The way Priyanka Gandhi is being treated (in the Congress) is not good.
Like how?
When she was made general secretary of the Congress party she was not given any portfolio.
If you go and check her name (on the Congress Web site) you will find clearly written in brackets, Priyanka Gandhi, general secretary (without any portfolio).
In the history of the Congress party, never has a general secretary been told no work will be given to him or her. This was done to Priyanka Gandhi. You check the letter of K C Venugopal and you will find out this fact.
In the same letter, every general secretary was given charge of some state, but it was only Priyanka Gandhi who got no portfolio.
This was not respect, but disrespect shown to her.
Do you mean that Priyanka Gandhi has been sidelined in the Congress party?
This is not what I feel, but the country feels. It is very evident and everybody can see.
Priyanka Gandhi is not a part of the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra yet. Why has she not joined BJNY? I have no idea.
Do you feel the Congress deserved Priyanka Gandhi as its leader rather than Rahul Gandhi?
The Congress has given me an expulsion letter that I have not got yet. And if they had not given the expulsion letter they should have denied the news. But since they did not deny the news, I believe it is true.
And since I am expelled from the Congress party I would say it is their internal problem. The country is bigger than any political party.
