Nobody Discussing Ram Temple, Issue is Over: Sharad Pawar

Mumbai: NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar has said that the ruling BJP may not get any political benefit from the Ram Mandir issue in the ongoing Lok Sabha polls. The issue of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya is now over, and no one is discussing it anymore, said the veteran leader on Friday.

The idol consecration ceremony of Ram temple in Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh was held on January 22. The Ram Mandir issue is likely to play a major role in the Lok Sabha polls, with the BJP expected to benefit from it.

However, Pawar said nobody was discussing the issue of Ram temple in Ayodhya any more. When asked about whether the Ram temple would play any crucial role in the ongoing elections, he said, “The issue of the Ram temple in Ayodhya is now over, and no one is discussing it any more.”

Instead, the veteran leader said that people are disgruntled over the absence of the idol of the goddess Sita in the Ram Mandir.

“During a meeting, some women pointed out and complained that although the idol of Lord Ram has been installed, goddess Sita’s idol is not there,” the former union minister said.

However, the Maharashtra BJP president Chandrashekhar Bawankule has slammed Pawar over his remarks saying that the latter should have gathered information about the Ram temple in Ayodhya before commenting.

“Lord Ram is there in his child form, but Pawar saheb is just interested in playing politics over it,” Bawankule said in a statement.

Taking a dig at Pawar, the BJP leader said, “Pawar, who terms his own daughter-in-law an outsider, showing concerns about Sitamai is nothing but the height of hypocrisy.”

The BJP leader was referring to the NCP founder’s recent remarks about Sunetra Pawar, the wife of Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, who is contesting election from the Baramati Lok Sabha constituency against Supriya Sule, the daughter of the veteran leader.

Commenting on Ajit Pawar’s statement that people should vote for Pawar only in Baramati, Sharad Pawar had said, “There is the original Pawar and one coming from outside.”