Nagpur/New Delhi: Ahead of the Lok Sabha polls expected in April-May, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday sounded the Ayodhya bugle, saying a grand Ram temple would definitely be built in the Uttar Pradesh town where the 16th century Babri Masjid once stood.
BJP President Rajnath Singh, addressing the party national council meeting on the second day of the party conclave, said that building a temple to Lord Ram was the party's "nishtha and aastha (vow and aspiration)" and they were looking for an opportunity to build the temple at Ayodhya, where fundamentalists demolished the Babri masjid in December 1992.
Singh, striking a Hindutva chord, said no one on earth could come in the way of the party's vow to build a Ram temple.
"It is our vow and aspiration to build a grand Ram temple at Ayodhya, and there is no person on earth who can come in the way. We are looking for an opportunity to build a temple," Rajnath Singh said.
Meanwhile, the Congress on Saturday dismissed the BJP's claim that it would definitely build a Ram temple at Ayodhya, saying the BJP "doesn't intend to keep its promise" like its earlier pronouncements. Congress leader Tom Vadakkan, in charge of the party's media cell, described as "yet another lie" BJP chief Rajnath Singh's statement in Nagpur that the party was looking for an opportunity to build the Ram temple.
“Rama is used and abused. In his name the Ram Sene is ripping off women's clothes and in Delhi BJP remembers Rama only at election time. Rama will never forgive them," says congress spokesperson, Mansih Tiwari.
"We have seen it happen earlier. It is yet again a lie," Vadakkan said reacting to the BJP President's statement.
"The BJP doesn't intend to build a temple. They are doing an injustice to the name of Ram, to the cause of Hinduism. They don't intend to keep their promise. The people will give a fitting reply (during the upcoming Lok Sabha elections)," Vadakkan said.
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