Controversial BJP MP Sakshi Maharaj says the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya at the disputed site will come up with a “grand look” before the next Loksabha elections.
“There was a Ram temple in Ayodhya and it will exist there in the future too, with a grand look. The work to give it a grand look will be completed by 2019,” Maharaj told reporters according to news agency PTI.
Maharaj has been known for making controversial statements even in the past. His comments that Hindu women should produce at least 4-5 children had caused huge controversy not so long ago.
Maharaj’s statement comes a day after his party president Amit Shah told reporters that the BJP didn’t have people’s mandate for the construction of Ram temple in Ayodhya.
Shah said on Tuesday that unless the BJP had “370 seats in the parliament” there was no way his party could fulfill the poll promises on construction of Ram temple and repealing of Article 370 that gave special status to people of Kashmir.
Meanwhile the right-wing Hindu group Vishwa Hindu Parishad too has announced that “no Islamic structure should come up in the cultural boundary of Ayodhya nor should there be a new construction of any structure in the name of Mughal emperors anywhere in India,” according to a report published in Times of India.
The VHP, in its resolution, reportedly also demanded the construction of Ram temple at the earliest before the entire land at the disputed site being given to Hindus for temple construction.
Commentators say that the Ram temple may become a huge issue in future before the crucial assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh in 2017,
