Real Ayodhya in Nepal, Lord Ram not Indian: Oli

Kathmandu, July 13: Nepal Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli on Monday stoke a controversy saying that Lord Rama belongs to Nepal, not India.

"Real Ayodhya lies in Nepal, not in India. Lord Ram is Nepali, not Indian," news agency ANI cited Nepali media as quoting Oli.

"We have been oppressed a bit culturally. Facts have encroached. We still believe that we gave Sita to Indian Prince Ram. But we gave to the prince from Ayodhya, not India. Ayodhya is a village a little west to Birgunj, not the Ayodhya created now (sic)," Oli said at an event at his official residence in Baluwatar.

The claim comes amid an ongoing diplomatic tussle between Kathmandu and New Delhi over the newly published Nepal map which claims Indian territory as its own.

Recently, Nepal redrew the country's political map through a constitutional amendment, incorporating three strategically important Indian areas.

The Nepal Parliament also approved the new political map of the country featuring Lipulekh, Kalapani and Limpiyadhura areas which India maintains belong to it. India has already termed as "untenable" the artificial enlargement" of the territorial claims by Nepal.

Last week, Nepal stopped the transmission of all Indian private news channels except Doordarshan, accusing them of airing reports hurting the country's national sentiment.