BJP-RSS using Ram temple issue for political gains: Singhvi

Senior Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi Sunday said the BJP-RSS raise the Ramjanmabhoomi dispute at Ayodhya ahead of every poll and then confine Lord Ram to "exile" after it is over.

He hit out at the ruling dispensation and said it had insulted god by using the issue for political gains.

Speaking about a BJP lawmaker planning to introduce a private member's bill on the Ram temple construction, Singhvi said, "After 1992, in every elections, they (BJP and RSS) raise the issue. Once the polls get over, they again consign Lord Ram to exile," Singhvi said.

"They should be ashamed as they have used the issue for political gains and insulted god. The fact is that the issue is nothing but a political one for them," he added.

Talking about some BJP leaders demanding an ordinance to pave way for the construction of the Ram temple, Singhvi questioned why the BJP did not think of such an ordinance in the past four years of its rule.

Singhvi likened the RSS and BJP to Manthara and Kaikeyi respectively, characters from Ramayana.

"RSS is Manthara and BJP Kaikeyi of the present age. Kaikeyi had sent Lord Ram to exile for 14 years but this pair of Manthara and Kaikeyi have kept Lord Ram in exile for the last 30 years," he said.

He asked BJP chief Amit Shah, who was on a visit to the state Sunday, to explain to people the "magical formula" by which a firm connected to Shah's son had witnessed growth of "16,000" times in four years.

The allegation has been denied several times in the past by Shah and his son, with the latter also moving court with a criminal and civil defamation suit against the news portal that first published an article in this regard.

Singhvi accused Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh's son of having foreign bank accounts, an allegation denied consistently by the latter's son.