This happened a day after Union Home Minister Amit Shah announced that the Ram temple in Ayodhya<\/a> will be ready on January 1, 2024, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge<\/a> Friday hit out at him questioning his credentials to declare the opening of a temple.<\/p>\n Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Friday reminded home minister Amit Shah that his job was to implement the rule of law in the country and that he was not a priest from Ayodhya to invite people to worship in the Ram temple.\u00a0 Addressing a rally in Panipat in Haryana along with Rahul Gandhi where the Bharat Jodo Yatra has reached, Kharge, accused the BJP government of not fulfilling their promise of creating jobs.<\/p>\n \u201cAmit Shah is announcing that the Ram temple will be ready on January 1, 2024. The Ram temple is a matter of personal faith for everybody. Who are you to talk about it at an election rally in Tripura?\u00a0 Aap pujari ho, mahant ho (Are you a priest? The mahant of that temple)? Let the temple trusts and mahants talk about the date of the temple\u2019s opening. Your job is to enforce the rule of law, to keep the country safe,\u201d Kharge told a mammoth public meeting at Panipat in the course of the Bharat Jodo Yatra.<\/p>\n Shah had at an election rally in Tripura on Thursday recalled how Prime Minister Narendra Modi had performed the bhoomi pujan for the construction. Shah then declared that the temple would be ready on January 1, 2024.<\/p>\n Before announcing the date and inviting people to book their tickets to Ayodhya, he especially asked Rahul Gandhi to pay attention to what he was going to say \u2014 making the political intent clear.<\/p>\n Kharge said: \u201cThey can say anything for votes and later dismiss it as election jumla (rhetoric). They will keep doing it as long as the people digest it.\u201d<\/p>\n The Congress president added: \u201cThere is a saying \u2013 munh mein Ram, bagal mein chhuri (Ram on lips, knife in hand). These people are roaming around with knives. They are creating discord in society, creating rifts between castes and communities.\u201d<\/p>\n The message was clear: the BJP-RSS did not follow Ram\u2019s values of truth and justice although they chanted his name.\u201cThe BJP leaders Modi-Shah are obsessed with elections. They are not concerned with people\u2019s problems,\u201d Kharge said. \u201cTheir sole concern is how to win elections and grab power. They will make any false promise to win \u2013 two crore jobs, Rs 15 lakh to everybody. Bhagwan ka naam lekar itna jhooth bolte hain. Ye jhooth ke sardar hain (They chant God\u2019s name and tell such lies. They are a master of lies). No other Prime Minister told lies,\u201d Kharge said.<\/p>\n Explaining the aim of the Bharat Jodo Yatra, Kharge said: \u201cEverybody is surprised by Rahul Gandhi\u2019s determination and courage as he walks through the country in the heat, rain, and cold. Why is he doing it? Not for politics, not for elections. It is about people\u2019s miseries. The youth have never suffered such unemployment; prices are tormenting the poor. Modi-Shah aren\u2019t worried about these things. All they know is how to win elections. They have done nothing for the country; never made any sacrifices.\u201d<\/p>\n Speaking at the rally, Rahul emphasized the inequality in the country. In a country of 140 crore citizens, 100 people controlled half the wealth, he said. As much as 90 percent of all profits went to 20 companies, he added, returning to a point he has often made \u2014 that the Modi government has destroyed the small and medium industries that gave jobs to crores of people, creating an unemployment crisis never seen before.<\/p>\n Arguing that all the major initiatives of the Modi government \u2014 the demonetization, a flawed GST, Agnipath, farm laws \u2014 had created fear in the country, he said: \u201cThey call themselves deshbhakt (patriots) and bring in schemes like Agnipath that will not only weaken the army but destroy the careers of millions of youths. Earlier, when a soldier sacrificed his life for the country, his family was taken care of. Now the state will forget you after four years, not even pension will be given.\u201d<\/p>\n Haryana sends a large number of youths to the armed forces, and the Agnipath scheme has caused deep disappointment and anger in the state. Rahul recalled that the protesting youths were threatened and silenced by the government.<\/p>\n The Bharat Jodo Yatra entered Haryana on Friday after a massively successful journey in Uttar Pradesh. The public rally in Panipat was enormous, comparable to the big meetings in Kerala, Telangana, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, and Rajasthan.<\/p>\n