BJP, RSS misleading people over Ram Mandir issue: Congress

Accusing the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) of misleading the people on Ram temple issue, senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh on Thursday said that both were using the issue for political gains. "Mohan Bhagwat and the BJP politicized the issue of Ram Mandir in the 90s. They are just doing it for political gains. They do not have anything to do with Ram mandir or religion," Singh told ANI.

"First they said that they will do it after coming to power in UP, then they said that they will do it after coming to power in the centre. They came to power during Atal Bihari Vajpayee's time but they did not do it. Then they said that they should come to power with absolute majority, even that has happened. Now, they are saying that it will happen in his lifetime," he added.

RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat had on Wednesday said he hopes that the proposed Ram temple will be built at Ayodhya in his lifetime. "The temple will be built within my lifetime. May be, we will see it with our own eyes. None can say when and how the temple will be constructed, but we need to be prepared and ready," Bhagwat said while addressing a programme in Kolkata to pay tributes to brothers Ram Kothari and Sharad Kothari who were killed in police firing while performing the kar seva at Ayodhya in 1990.

"We need to plan it carefully. A good mix of 'josh' (passion) and 'hosh' (sanity) is needed to complete the work which Ram and Sharad had initiated," he added.