UP mandate for mandir not statue, says Sanjay Raut

Mumbai: Reacting to Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath’s plan to build a grand statue of Hindu deity, Shri Ram, the Shiv Sena on Tuesday said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) owed its success at the polls for its promise to construct a Ram temple in Ayodhya and not for building his statue.

Speaking to the mediapersons, Shiv Sena MP, Mr Sanjay Raut said, “The BJP’s unprecedented success in Uttar Pradesh was not for Ram statue but to construct a temple in Ayodhya. In the 1990s, their slogan was “Mandir Vahin Banayange” and not statue. The people’s emotions are attached to the Ayodhya temple,” he said, referring to BJP’s Ram Janambhoomi movement back then.

The Yogi Adityanath government in UP has planned to install a 100-metre statue of Lord Rama on the banks of the Saryu river and organise a grand Diwali in Ayodhya by illuminating the town and lighting 1.71 lakh earthen diyas.

The statue will be installed only after receiving clearance from the National Green Tribunal. A series of programmes have been scheduled for October 18 to celebrate Diwali in the town.

A “deepotsav” will be organised on ‘Ram Ki Paidi’ where 1.71 lakh earthen lamps will be lit.  The objective of the entire programme will be to promote Ayodhya, the birth place of Lord Rama, as a tourist destination.