Faizabad: Launching a vitriolic attack on the Samajwadi Party, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday asked the people of Ayodhya to seek an answer from former chief minister Akhilesh Yadav for the firing on kar sewaks’ during his party’s regime in the past and asked why Lord Ram had to “stay in a tent” for years.
Addressing a rally here during ‘Jan Vishwas Yatra’ of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Shah was referring to the makeshift temple on the site, which was disputed in the Babri Masjid-Ram Janmabhoomi case.
The Home Minister alleged the governments led by the Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Congress made efforts to stop the Ram temple construction in Ayodhya.
Referring to a 1990 incident during the Samajwadi Party rule, Shah said: “Do you remember that kar sewaks’ were shot in Ayodhya and bodies were thrown into the Saryu.”
Addressing a rally at the Government Inter College here, he alleged that “symbols of faith were not respected” under the rule of the Samajwadi Party and BSP.
Asserting Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath “are working for the glory of every faith”, Shah said: “When Akhilesh ji comes here, seeking votes in Ayodhya, ask him what was the crime of the kar sewaks? Why did your government open fire on them? What is your objection to the removal of Article 370?”
“Akhilesh Babu, if your second generation also comes, neither Article 370 is going to come back nor the triple talaq,” he added.
The Home Minister also used the occasion to target West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo Mamata Banerjee.
Shah said the Samajwadi Party, BSP, Congress and the TMC chief worked together to oppose the scrapping of Jammu and Kashmir’s special status under Article 370.
“On August 5, 2019, Modi ji uprooted Article 370 in Parliament,” he added.
Crediting Prime Minister Modi with the construction of Ayodhya’s Ram temple, Shah said: “Whenever the SP, BSP and the Congress were in power, they made efforts to stop this. Don't you remember that the kar sewaks were fired upon, sticks were used on Ram's sewaks, Ram sewaks were killed and thrown into the mother Saryu.”
“I want to tell all those who wanted to stop it, if you can, try and stop it because no one has the power to stop it. A grand temple will come up in a few months at the place where Lord Shri Ram was born,” he added, PTI reported.
Asking why ‘Ramlalla’ had to “stay in a tent” for years, Shah said: “It is time for the people of Ayodhya, citizens of the country and people of UP to think why ‘Ramlalla’ had to live in a tent for so many years.”
The Home Minister, referring to the Income Tax (IT) department raids on the house of a perfume trader in Kanpur, said bundles of notes were seized and the stench of the Samajwadi perfume has spread all over Uttar Pradesh.
Asserting there used to be three ‘Ps’ during the SP government – “pariwarvaad”, “pakshpaat” and “Palayan”, Shah said today there are three ‘Vs’ – “vikas”, “vyapar” and “sanskratik virasat”, adding Ayodhya is the biggest example of the three ‘Vs’.
Taking potshots at the Congress, the Home Minister said the terrorists from Pakistan used to take away the heads of our jawans when the grand old party was in power at the Centre with the support of the SP and BSP, but air and surgical strikes eliminated the terrorists when Modi became the country’s Prime Minister.