Ram temple should not be constructed with govt funds: Digvijaya Singh

Rajya Sabha MP and ex-chief minister of Madhya Pradesh, Digvijaya Singh has said that the Ram temple at Ayodhya should not be constructed with government funds. In a series of tweets on Sunday morning, the Congress leader said that all Hindus in the world consider Lord Ram as reincarnation of God and would contribute to the temple construction.

Taking a potshot, he added that the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) that collected donation in name of temple construction, should keep it for itself and use it (the funds) for eradicating social evils.

Digvijaya's tweets come just a day after his spiritual guru Jagadguru Shankaracharya Swami Swaroopanand Saraswati of Sharda Pith gave a similar statement.

The ex-CM said that the Ram temple should be constructed under Hindu dharmacharyas (religious leaders) and not by organisations run by political parties or organisations. He said that the Ramalaya Trust includes all Shankaracharyas and members of Akhada Parishad linked to Ramanandi community. Jagadguru Swaroopanand Saraswati is the head of this trust as he is the seniormost (religious leade). “Lord Ram belongs to everyone and the responsibility of constructing the temple on the Janma Bhoomi should be given to the Ramalaya Trust only,” Digivijaya tweeted.

Speaking in Bhopal on Friday, Swami Swaroopanand Saraswati had said that the construction of Ram temple should be with money contributed by people and not with government funds because government fund comes from taxes and beef money. He said that he has written to the president of India and union home minister in this regard. “We have asked for inclusion in the temple construction committee as we were involved with the committee earlier too. We will not take a single rupee from the government for construction,” the Jagadguru said.

The religious leader also reiterated his stand that land for construction for a mosque should not be given in Ayodhya and it would indicate that Hindus were feeling guilty about the Babri mosque demolition. Also construction of mosque in Ayodhya would lead to controversy in future, he said.