On Friday (January 6), Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Jagadanand Singh courted controversy for labelling the Ram Janmabhoomi as the ‘land of hatred’ while talking about the under-construction grand Ram Mandir.
While speaking to the media, the Bihar State President of the RJD claimed, “Today, Ram is confined within 4 walls…His temple is being constructed on a land of hate (Nafrat ki Zameen)…Today in India, the ‘Ram’ of hooligans is thriving in place of humanity.”
“The Ram of the common man is no more. Only a form of him exists, which is confined within the walls of a temple…This is what happened. India was considered to be the land of Ram and Krishna. It is over now,” he further said.
#WATCH | Ram temple is being built on the land of hatred. Ram cannot be imprisoned in a magnificent palace…We are the people who believe in ‘Hey Ram’ and not ‘Jai Shri Ram’: Jagdanand Singh, Bihar state president, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) in Patna (06.01) pic.twitter.com/wC1SanBSQY
— ANI (@ANI) January 7, 2023
“Only a temple of Ram will remain…He will not remain in our hearts but inside the four walls (of the temple). This is beyond my understanding,” Jagadanand Singh continued.
On being told by a ‘journalist’ that BJP will be using Lord Ram for the 2024 elections, the RJD leader said, “Ram cannot be removed from people’s hearts and put under house arrest. Neither is He trapped in Ayodhaya nor in Sri Lanka.”
“We are the ones who chant ‘Hey Ram’ and not ‘Jai Shri Ram,” the RJD leader continued to divide the Hindu community based on religious sloganeering. This is not the first time that an RJD leader has tried to cast aspersions about the sanctity of the Ram Mandir.
Earlier in 2019, party leader Sanjay Yadav tried to drive a wedge between the Brahmins and non-Brahmins. He tweeted that everyone in India will be curious to know about the pujari (priest) of the temple once its construction is completed.
Yadav wondered if in the new, inclusive India, especially the one headed by PM Modi who has called for ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas’, will there be a non-Brahmin priest in the Ram Mandir.
