BJP using Ram temple issue before polls for cheap political gains: Congress

With BJP Rajya Sabha MP Vinay Katiyar saying that the proposed Ramayana Museum is a "lollipop" to please people who want the Ram Mandir (temple) to be constructed in Ayodhya, Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi on Wednesday said he partially agreed with Katiyar as the whole country believes that the BJP was and utilising the issue before the polls for cheap political gains.

Singhvi said, "This is one of those rare occasions when I may partially agree with Mr. Vinay Katiyar for a simple reason, that the whole country believes that the BJP really misuses, plays games with, distorts and utilises and misuses the Ram Mandir (temple) issue probably for cheap political gains."

"Apart from remembering Ram only during election time," said Singhvi, "Katiyar's comment illustrates the fact that the BJP knows well that the real issue can be decided decisively only by the Supreme Court, but in the meanwhile at every local municipal elections to state elections in different forms and in different manners."

"The whole issue is symbolically viewed again to try and fool the public. I think the public is far too intelligent to be befooled and it only exposes the hypocrisy and hollowness of the BJP," the Congress Rajya Sabha MP added.

Dubbing the announcement of the construction of a Ramayana Museum instead of constructing a Ram Temple at Ayodhya as a "big mistake" on the part of the BJP-led Central Government, Katiyar on Tuesday said, "Effort should be made to construct the Ram Mandir (temple); this "lolipapi" (handing over Ramayana Museum as lollipop to please the people who are demanding the construction of Ram Temple in Ayodhya) won't work. People ask when will be the Ram Temple constructed? This (Ramayana Museum) is a lollipop, it doesn't have much importance, and thus, they should make positive effort. I would have said this had I been there. It's good that I did not go there."

In an apparent move to woo voters in the poll-bound Uttar Pradesh, Tourism Minister Mahesh Sharma on Tuesday visited Ayodhya to inspect the proposed site for setting up a Ramayana museum.