Hindus want Ram Temple in reality, not a lollipop of Ramayana museum at Ayodhya: Katiyar.

Bajrang Dal and VHP activists raise slogans in favour of a Ram Temple in Ayodhya on December 6, 2015, the 23rd anniversary of the demolition of the Babri Masjid. (FILE PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES)

BJP MP Vinay Katiyar says, Build Ram Temple at Ayodhya, Don’t give the ‘lollipop’ of Ramayana museum to the Hindus.

Ramanand Bansal | HENB | Ayodhya | Oct 18, 2016::  Even as the ruling BJP in the Center faces opposition criticism for announcing a huge Ramayana museum in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh, its own Rajya Sabha parliamentarian Vinay Katiyar today called the museum a mere “lollipop”, ANI reported.

“We should be trying to build a Ram temple, Hindus won’t be happy with this lollipop,” Katiyar said, referring to the museum, which is set to come up about 15km from the disputed Babri Masjid-Ramjanmabhoomi site.

“Wherever I go in Ayodhya, Hindu saints and seers ask me when will Ram Mandir be built, good I did not go today,” Katiyar added. He was referring to the scheduled visit today of Union tourism minister Mahesh Sharma to the site of the proposed Ramayana museum near Ayodhya.

On this issue, Katiyar also has the support of Dr Subramanian Swamy, another BJP MP who’s raised the issue in the Rajya Sabha earlier this year. He said some months ago that both sides in the Ram Janmabhoomi temple dispute have said that a court order on the issue would be acceptable to them, and therefore government must agree to a do day-to-day hearing on the issue.

Read also: Development alone can’t win polls, it also need Ram Temple: BJP MP Subramanian Swamy.

Katiyar was incidentally the face of the die-hard Ram temple movement in Ayodhya in the 1990s. He’s said in the past that the Modi government should “move to resolve” the matter without waiting for a Supreme Court verdict on the disputed site.

Just on Sunday, Swamy said a Ram temple is the key to a win in the 2017 Uttar Pradesh polls. Speaking at a conference in Allahabad, he said no party could ever win an election on the issue of development alone, and that if the BJP succeeded in giving the impression that a Ram temple in Ayodhya would soon be a reality, then it would have a chance of winning the upcoming Assembly polls.

Read also: Centre’s Ramayana museum plan at Ayodhya sparks pre-poll storm.

The BJP, however, has insisted that Ram Mandir is not a poll plank for the party. “My visit to Ayodhya has nothing to do with UP Assembly elections. I am visiting there as a Tourism Minister. It should not be linked to politics but is part of government’s effort to improve tourism in Ayodhya and all over the country. The visit is part of developmental agenda,” he said.

Union Tourism Minister Mahesh Sharma said the museum will be a part of the Ramayana Circuit for which the Centre has sanctioned Rs 225 crore, with Rs 151 crore exclusively for Ayodhya, which is the hub of the circuit.