New Delhi: Uttar Pradesh cabinet minister Laxmi Narayan Chaudhary on Monday said that India owed its identity to deity Ram and it was due to him that India became a global superpower.
“In this country, people should learn a lesson from the life of Lord Ram who made India a global superpower. Lord Ram is a personality, which is incomparable,” UP state Religious Affairs, Culture, Minority Welfare, Muslim Waqf and Haj minister Chaudhary told media.
He said Ram was a role model for every Indian despite his religion.
“Be it as a husband, a son or a warrior, Lord Ram is our role model in every capacity. He is a role model for all Indians irrespective of which religion they belong to. We, as a country, owe our identity to Lord Ram,” he stated.
The Minister asserted that the public sentiment across the country was in favour of building a massive Ram temple at the disputed site in Ayodhya.
“The public sentiment is in favour of Ram temple at the place where Babri mosque was demolished in 1991. Whether it is the government or any other institution in the country, everyone must respect the public sentiment. Everyone wants that the construction work of the Ram temple in Ayodhya must begin at the earliest,” he averred.
He said that once a Ram temple is built there, it would restore the glorious history of the ancient town.
“The glorious history of Ayodhya will be restored as soon as a grand Ram temple is built in Ayodhya. Lakhs of tourists will visit the place afterwards and it will eventually give a huge boost to tourism in the temple town,” he further said.
According to Chaudhary, no attention was paid to the development of Ayodhya during both the Mughal and the British rule.
“In the last 200 years, no work was done for development of Ayodhya and it was virtually left to its own fate. Nobody cared for this city of Ayodhya. Even after decades of independence, Ayodhya faced neglect from successive union and state governments. Only after Yogi Adityanath became the Chief Minister (CM) of Uttar Pradesh that attention was paid to the beautification of Ayodhya and to enhance its grandeur,” the minister lamented.
He said the idea behind the recently organised ‘Deepotsav’ in Ayodhya on the night of Diwali was to send a message that people should learn a lesson from the life of Ram.
Reacting to Chaudhary’s comment, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Ramesh Gupta accused Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of polarising views on the Ram temple issue ahead of the 2019 general elections.
“This is a familiar story. Every five years before elections, BJP tries to polarise views on Ram temple. They just misguide voters and don’t mean anything they say,” Gupta said.
Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala also said BJP leaders think of Ram only before elections.
