Hitting out at its own ally Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray said that the Ram temple issue is raked up before every election and wondered for how long will people be ‘fooled’ with the ‘mandir wahi banayenge’ slogan.
Thackeray also vowed to seek an answer from BJP during his visit to Ayodhya on November 25. Talking to the reporters, he said, “The soil where Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj was born carries with it sentiments of all Hindus and collecting these sentiments will speed up the process of the construction of Ram temple.”
“The issue of Ram temple is raked up before every election. I will seek an answer as to for how many more elections will the people be fooled with the slogan Mandir wahi banayenge,” he added. The Sena chief also said, “Seers there had expressed their desire that I should visit the site, so I will take their blessings and also take part in the evening aarti on the banks of the Sarayu river.”
Interestingly, with an aim to intensify his party’s campaign for the Ram temple in Ayodhya, Uddhav Thackeray has given a new slogan– ‘Pehle mandir, fir sarkaar’ (first the temple, then the government).
It is to be noted that Uddhav Thackeray had announced during the Shiv Sena’s Dussehra rally in Mumbai that he will visit Ayodhya on 25 November and question PM Modi on the issue of the construction of the Ram temple.
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