Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Tuesday accused the Congress of opposing the construction of Ram Mandir in Ayodhya in the past and said that if Congress had wanted to build the temple, it could have built it in 1947 itself.

“The Congress could have built Ram Mandir in Ayodhya in 1947. Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel had wanted it, but the Congress leadership rejected it,” CM Adityanath said at an election rally at Khategaon in Madhya Pradesh.

“Congress kept opposing Ayodhya’s Ram Mandir and when the agitation began they started saying that Ram never existed…A party that claims to be the oldest one, if it dismisses the heroes and symbol of inspiration, they shouldn’t be allowed to stay,” he added.

Yogi Adityanath’s comments came in the backdrop of Congress’s Madhya Pradesh chief Kamal Nath’s remark that the BJP can not take complete credit for the construction of Ram Mandir in Ayodhya.

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Kamal Nath also said in an interview with an English daily that the former Prime Minister and Congress leader Rajiv Gandhi “got the locks opened” of the temporary Ram temple at the disputed Babri Masjid site in 1986 to allow Hindus to worship on the premises.

“I’ve said whatever I had to say. Ram Mandir belongs to every person in the country,” Kamal Nath told ANI recently.

“Naxalism and terrorism were posing a great challenge, and corruption was also rampant. At that time instead of having concern for the nation, Congress leadership was concerned with one family. Congress cannot be separated from that one family,” CM Yogi said.

He alleged that the Congress party and problems have become synonymous terms.

Madhya Pradesh is one of the five states set to undergo polls in one phase on November 17 and the counting of votes will take place on December 3. Voters will choose legislators from 230 Assembly constituencies.

Source: ANI