Decision to build Ram Mandir should have been taken on next day of Independence: PM Modi

Sirsi (Karnataka): Prime Minister Narendra Modi told a rally on Sunday in Karnataka that the Congress made efforts to see Ram Mandir in Ayodhya is not built till the last minute.

Speaking at Sirsi town in Karnataka's Uttara Kannada district, he said the decision to build Ram Mandir in Ayodhya should have been taken the very next day after the country achieved Independence in 1947.

PM Modi blamed the Congress for the long delay and stated that the party made efforts till the last minute to ensure that the temple is not built.

"In Ayodhya, our ancestors waited and battled for 500 years for Ram Mandir to be built... 500 years is not a small period. They should have taken this decision on the next day of Independence but they did not do it. To get this work done, it takes 'chhappan inch ka seena'. This power comes from one vote of yours," PM Modi said while addressing the rally.

"Now that Ram Mandir has been built, the appeasement politics has reached its height in the country... the trustees of Ram Mandir went to their homes and invited them but they rejected the invitation. Won't Karnataka and the country reject the Congress party now?" he wondered while speaking at the public meeting.

PM Modi also accused the Congress of disrespecting Ram Mandir for vote bank politics.

"On the other side, there is an Ansari family... Iqbal Ansari's entire family fought the case against Ram Temple for three generations but when the Supreme Court's verdict came, he accepted it. The trustees of Ram Mandir invited Ansari, and he attended the 'Pran Pratistha' ceremony at Ayodhya," said PM Modi.

PM Modi also slammed the Siddaramaiah-led Congress government in Karnataka for the "worsening situation of law and order" in the entire state and for encouraging anti-social and anti-national elements.

"What happened in Belagavi with a tribal sister, what happened in Chikkodi with a Jain monk, is shameful. What happened with our daughter on a college campus in Hubli shook the entire nation. Her family kept demanding action but the pressure of appeasement prevailed on the Congress-led state government. Even when a bomb blast occurred in a cafe in Bengaluru, the Congress government initially did not show seriousness. This is the same Congress that used organisations like the PFI for votes in elections and defended their action," he said.

IANS with edits