UP State Minister Ompal Nehra sacked by CM after temple remarks.

UP CM Akhilesh Yadav Sacks State Minister Ompal Nehra After his Temple Remarks that Muslims should co-operate for the temples in Ayodhya and Mathura.

Ompal Nehra, MoS in UP and Sr. Samajwadi Party Leader.

PTI | Lucknow | Dec 25, 2015:: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister President Akhilesh Yadav has stripped Samajwadi Party leader Ompal Nehra of minister of state status after his remarks asking Muslims to help build temples in Ayodhya and Mathura.

“Nehra has been sacked by the Chief Minister yesterday,” SP spokesman and cabinet minister Rajendra Chowdhury told PTI today.

The action by Chief Minister, who is also the state president of ruling Samajwadi Party, came as the Ram temple issue came into renewed focus with two truck loads of stones for construction of the temple being brought to Ayodhya by Vishva Hindu Parishad.

Nehra had on December 23 suggested during a function that Muslims should come forward and help build temples at disputed sites in Ayodhya and Mathura, so that organisations like VHP lose their identity.

“Where can a Ram temple be built if not in Ayodhya? It is an emotional issue. In Mathura, where we worship Krishna, how can there be a mosque there. Muslims should think about it and in fact come forward for Kar Seva (voluntary work) and say build the temples at these places. We should not fall in their (VHP’s)trap,” Nehra has said in Bijnore.

Read this in Hindi: राम मंदिर निर्माण का समर्थन करने पर यूपी के मंत्री हुए बर्खास्‍त, अखिलेश ने ओमपाल नेहरा को हटाया

‘Sacked’ UP minister should be termed Kar Sevak: Laxmikant Bajpayi.

Laxmikant Bajpai, President of the Uttar Pradesh unit of BJP.

ANI | Lucknow | Dec 25, 2015:: The president of the Uttar Pradesh unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Laxmikant Bajpai, on Friday said that sacked Samajwadi Party (SP) minister Ompal Nehra should be termed a ‘Kar Sevak’ for Thursday’s controversial comment.

“The statement made by Nehra ji reflects the feelings of the majority of this country. But the timing of the statement is not right. When the matter is in the Supreme Court, then no can anyone start the construction of the temple. No person, who is holding a constitutional post, will say this statement,” Bajpayi told ANI.

“Ram ke naam par Nehra Ji shaheed to ho gaye, ab unko kar sevak ki upadhi de di jaye to koi burai nahi hai. (Since Nehra has been sacked on the name of Ram, it would not be bad to name him as Kar Sevak),” he added.

Ompal Nehra, a senior leader, and a minister in Uttar Pradesh, was on Friday stripped of his ministerial stature after commenting that Muslims must give up their claims on mosques in Ayodhya, Mathura and Kashi and help build temples in those places.

The sacked minister had said, “Where can a Ram temple be built if not at Ayodhya? Muslims should help in building a Ram temple in Ayodhya and a Krishna temple in Mathura and give up their claim on mosques there. In fact I would say that Muslims should join Kar Seva (volunteer) for the Ram temple.”

The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) has been gathering truckloads of stones for a temple at the site in Ayodhya, where the Babri Masjid once stood, and was destroyed by Hindu fanatics in 1992.

Also read: Stones being sculpted for Ram temple in Ayodhya, says RSS functionary

Also read: Muslims in Agra threaten to retaliate if stones continue to arrive in Ayodhya

Courtesy: PTI, ANI and the links used above.