Modi fulfilled dream of Balasaheb Thackeray, crores of Ram bhakts: Maharashtra CM says in Ayodhya
Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde speaks during a ‘Sant Sammelan’ in Ayodhya, Sunday, April 9, 2023.
| Photo Credit: PTI
Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Sunday said that those who doubted the construction of a Ram temple in Ayodhya were shown their way home as the process has started and the work is in full swing.
On his maiden visit to Ayodhya as Chief Minister, accompanied by senior BJP leader and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, and hundreds of karyakartas (officials), Mr. Shinde said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had fulfilled the dream of Shiv Sena founder ‘Hindu Hriday Samrat’ Balasaheb Thackeray and crores of Ram bhakts.
“Everyone used to wonder when the construction work would start. Some used to say ‘ mandir wahin banayenge, par tarikh nahi batayenge’ (the temple will be built there, but the dates will not be told). But Prime Minister Narendra Modi has got the work started and the dream of crores of Ram bhakts is being fulfilled…,” Mr. Shinde said.
The opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance accused Mr. Shinde and other leaders of the ruling dispensation visiting Ayodhya while forgetting their “constitutional duty”, especially when farmers in the State were suffering from crop losses due to unseasonal rains and hailstorms.
In a veiled attack on Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Uddhav Thackeray, the CM said that “some people are not happy with the Ayodhya Yatra.”
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“Some are allergic to Hindutva… Shiv Sena and BJP have the same ideology and we will unfurl the saffron flag all over the State next year. I want to tell those who used to say this is ‘Ravan raj’ that this government has been made with the blessings of Lord Ram,” Mr. Shinde said, adding that when seers were killed, the MVA government had remained silent, but had sent Independent MP Navneet Rana and her husband Independet MLA Ravi Rana into jail for reciting the Hanuman Chalisa.
He said that with the blessings of Lord Ram, they had ‘ dhanush-baan’ symbol (the Shiv Sena’s election symbol of bow and arrow) with them, and the teakwood from Maharashtra used in the temple was a small contribution.
The Lok Sabha election as well as the Maharashtra Assembly polls are due next year. Mr. Shinde said that he would take soil from the temple town of Ayodhya to Amravati, where a 111-foot statue of Bajrangbali (Lord Hanuman) will be built.
Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) supremo and four-time Chief Minister Sharad Pawar lashed out at the Shinde-Fadnavis government for their visit to Ayodhya and said the farmers’ community is God as it provides food.
“It is surprising that they have left the farmers in distress and have travelled to have darshan of Lord Ram. For us, farmers are God as they provide food. They should focus on farmers’ issues,” he said.
Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut criticised BJP leader and Mr. Fadnavis for accompanying Mr. Shinde to Ayodhya as the said party had never come with their party when they had visited the temple town in the past, and accused them of running away during the Babri incident.
“We have also visited Ayodhya several times… But the BJP never came with our party. When the Babri incident happened, they just ran away,” Mr. Raut said.
Mr. Raut also questioned Mr. Shinde and Mr. Fadnavis’s decision to visit Ayodhya despite the ongoing problems faced by farmers in Maharashtra due to rain and hailstorms. “Will Lord Ram bless them if they ignore farmers’ problems in Maharashtra and stay there? They are copying us. Public knows who is original and [who is] duplicate,” the Rajya Sabha member said.
