NEW DELHI, Jan 5: Bringing the Ram Temple issue in the coming Assembly elections in Tripura, the union home minister Amit Shah on Thursday announced that the much-awaited temple in Ayodhya would be ready by January 1, 2024.
Addressing a public meeting at Sabroom before flagging off the ruling BJP’s “rath yatra” ahead of the Tripura assembly elections expected to be held by March, Shah asked the audience “Should the Ram Temple in Ayodhya be constructed or not? After Babur razed it and since we got Independence, the Congress was responsible for keeping the matter pending in courts. But when (Prime Minister) Narendra Modi came to power and the Supreme Court gave its ruling, he announced construction of the temple.” Shah said.
“In 2019, Rahul Gandhi used to taunt us saying that while we keep promising construction of the Ram Temple, we never give a fixed date when it will be over. I would like to tell him and everyone else that the Ram Temple at Ayodhya will be ready on January 1, 2024,” he added.
The Union home minister was on a day-long trip to Tripura where he flagged off two ‘rath yatras’ of the ruling BJP in the poll-bound state and addressed two public meetings. Shah appealed to the people to keep their faith on the development model of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the upcoming Assembly polls to witness a prosperous Tripura in the next five years.
“Whatever development you have seen since 2018 under the reign of Biplab Kumar Deb and Manik Saha is just a trailer. The entire movie is yet to come,” said Shah.
Speaking about achievements of the BJP government, Shah said that the government gave gas connections, pure drinking water, sanitary toilets and healthcare to people, especially women and indigenous communities.
“There used to be infiltration, terrorism, corruption, trafficking, crimes against indigenous in Tripura. But, we have brought development in the state through connectivity, industrial investment, organic farming, etc.” he claimed.
He also mentioned about reaching to an understanding with the banned insurgent group National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT) to end the insurgency, providing permanent resettlement to 37,000 Bru migrants, drinking water to 4.25 lakh families, housing benefits to 3.80 lakh families, free ration to poor people, subsidies to the farmers, free healthcare benefits to 13 lakh families under Ayushman Bharat Yojana.
(Manas Dasgupta)
