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Rahul first from Gandhi family to visit Ayodhya after Babri demolition
Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi spent over 20 minutes in Ayodhya on Friday morning, in the first visit to the Uttar Pradesh temple town by a member of the Congress\'s first family since the demolition of the Babri Masjid in December 1992.
​Ayodhya: Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi spent over 20 minutes in Ayodhya on Friday morning, in the first visit to the Uttar Pradesh temple town by a member of the Congress's first family since the demolition of the Babri Masjid in December 1992.
Gandhi drove straight to the famous Hanuman Garhi temple, where he offered prayers, before meeting the temple mahant. He then drove out of the town to Faizabad for a roadshow. He skipped a visit to the Ram temple at the disputed Ramjanmbhoomi-Babri Masjid site, about a kilometre away.
"Rahul came and sought our blessings...we told him we sadhus have no religion and no slant and that he is most welcome here," said Mahant Gyan Das, the temple's chief priest.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi's visit to Varanasi last month had to be cut short before she visited the Kashi Vishwanath temple, as she fell ill. Sonia Gandhi has not visited Ayodhya since 1992, though she has visited Faizabad, 7 km away, several times for election campaigns.
Her husband and former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi had on a visit to Ayodhya in 1990, planned to offer prayers at the Hanuman Garhi temple, but could not because of lack of time. He was assassinated the next year.
Opposition leaders claimed that Rahul's visit to Ayodhya is nothing but a political stunt based on election strategist Prashant Kishor's Brahmin-centric campaign in Uttar Pradesh.
On September 6, Rahul started his UP campaign with 'khat sabhas' with farmers in a bid to capture power in the politically important state of UP.
