NEW DELHI: Former
Congress
spokesperson
Radhika Khera
on Monday made startling
allegations
against the party while explaining her decision to resign from its primary membership on Sunday.
Addressing a media briefing, Radhika claimed that the Congress began to “hate her” after she visited the Ayodhya
Ram Temple
and was reprimanded for sharing videos or photos of the grand temple.
According to Khera, the party instructed her not to visit the temple during the election period. “I always heard that Congress is anti-Ram, anti-Sanatan and anti-Hindu but I never believed it. Mahatma Gandhi used to start every meeting with ‘Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram’. I got exposed to this reality when I went to Ram temple with my grandmother and after returning from there, I put a ‘Jai Shri Ram’ flag on the door of my house and after that Congress party started hating me. Whenever I posted photos or videos, I was scolded and asked why I visited
Ayodhya
when elections were under process,” the former Congress leader stated.
Khera further alleged that during Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, a Congress leader, Sushil Anand Shukha, offered her alcohol and knocked on her door with 5-6 party workers while intoxicated.
She claimed to have informed
Sachin Pilot
and
Jairam Ramesh
about the incident, but no action was taken. Khera alleged that she was disregarded because she did not adhere to the party’s “anti-Hindu ideology.”
Radhika resigned from the primary membership of Congress alleging mistreatment by party members.
She also alleged that Congress Sachin Pilot refused to take her call before his PA told her “not to open her mouth” about the
Chhattisgarh incident. Khera said she even approached ex-Chhattisgarh CM
Bhupesh Baghel
, who asked her to leave the state.
“The first thing I did was that I called Sachin Pilot but he did not speak to me, his PA told me that Sachin Pilot was busy. His PA had a conversation with someone there and then he told me not to speak anything about the incident, not to open my mouth. After this, I called Bhupesh Baghel, Pawan Khera, and Jairam Ramesh but none of them responded,” the ex-Congress leader claimed.
“Later Bhupesh Baghel called me back and I told him that I wanted to leave politics but he asked me to leave Chhattisgarh and then I understood how all of this was just a conspiracy,” she said.
In her
resignation
letter to the party high command, Khera expressed her disappointment that justice was not served in the Chhattisgarh incident, despite informing top party leaders. As a devotee of Lord Shri Ram and a woman, she felt deeply hurt by the lack of support from the party.
“The opposition to this noble work of mine reached such a level that justice was denied to me in the incident that happened to me in the Chhattisgarh Pradesh Congress office. I have always fought for the justice of others from every platform, but when it came to my justice, I found myself defeated in the party. Being a devotee of Lord Shri Ram and a woman, I am deeply hurt,” the Congress leader said.
“I have taken this step today as I am hurt by the fact that I did not get justice even after informing all the top leaders,” Khera said.
(With ANI inputs)
