SAD president condemns demolition of Ravidas temple, offers help to rebuild it at party's expense

Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal on Monday condemned the demolition of Guru Ravidass temple at Tughlaquabad village in Delhi and said that his party was ready to rebuild the historic temple.

"SAD is ready to rebuild the temple at the party's expenses," he was quoted as saying in a statement issued by his party.

Badal also vowed to "resolve" the issue at the earliest by taking up the matter with Home Minister Amit Shah and said the SAD will not tolerate "Beadbi" to religious Gurus.

"It is a matter of faith of millions of followers of Guru Ravidass ji in and outside Punjab," said Badal.

The SAD president expressed anguish and astonishment to know that the historic temple was demolished and the idol of Ravidas was forcibly removed.

"It seems the local committee managing the temple could not be adequately represented in the Court," said SAD president.

As per the reports, the said temple was demolished by the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) on Saturday.

Punjab unit Congress chief Sunil Jakhar has also said that his party would help in every possible way to pursue the case for reallocation of the historic site and reconstruction of temple demolished in Delhi under the Supreme Court's orders.

Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Sunday sought Prime Minister Narendra Modi's intervention to resolve the matter.