Ram Mandir Bhumi Pujan: VHP slams Sharad Pawar, Digvijaya Singh for comments on PM Modi’s Ayodhya visit

Ayodhya: The bhoomi pujan for Ram Mandir will be performed with the placing of a 40-kg silver brick at the sanctum sanctorum.

Vishwas Hindu Parishad chief Alok Kumar has come down heavily on NCP chief Sharad Pawar and Congress leader Digvijaya Singh for their remarks on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s proposed visit to Ayodhya to attend the bhoomi pujan for the construction of Ram Mandir.

Kumar said that the VHP would welcome PM Modi’s visit to the temple town for the ceremony next month and advised opposition leaders not to politicise the issue.

According to multiple media reports, PM Modi could visit Ayodhya on August 5 to attend the event. However, an official confirmation from his office is still awaited.

Kumar in his comments called the opposition leaders’ objections beyond comprehension. He said that the pandemic would stay and activities cannot be put off for an indefinite time. He said that people should learn to live with coronavirus.

“I disagree with the remarks of Sharad Pawar and Digvijaya Singh. I am satisfied with the Central government and Uttar Pradesh government’s handling the coronavirus situation. They have tried to minimise the loss due to the virus,” he said.

“I know that corona will not go soon. And therefore, the country cannot be placed under lockdown for long. The government is starting economic activities. We should learn to live with corona. We can’t put off the social and religious works for an indefinite period,” Kumar said, adding that “we will definitely win in the fight against coronavirus”.

“The Hindu samaj has been waiting for the past 500 years for a grand Ram Mandir in Ayodhya. We welcome PM Modi’s decision to visit Ayodhya,” the VHP president said.

Earlier, NCP chief Sharad Pawar had said building a temple will not cure COVID-19.

“We always think about what should be prioritised. As of now, our priority is to help those infected with coronavirus to recover. some people think that coronavirus will go away after the temple is constructed,” he said.

Senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh said that Pawar is absolutely right and he fully agrees with him. Singh said he wished PM Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah would have listened to the NCP leader and maybe the situation of the country “would have been better today”.

“You are absolutely right, Mr Pawar. This (not stated) would not be the situation of the country if Modi-Shah had followed your path,” he said.

The Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust has invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi to lay the foundation stone of a Ram temple in Ayodhya. According to the Ram Mandir trust president Nritya Gopal Das, the bhoomi pujan will be performed with the placing of a 40-kg silver brick at the sanctum sanctorum. Three-day-long Vedic rituals, beginning August 3, will precede the main ceremony.