Ram Rajya 'begins'?

Lucknow: Union tourism minister Mahesh Sharma visited Ayodhya today to scout for land where a proposed Ramayan museum would come up before rounding off his trip by announcing that the day marked the beginning of Ram Rajya. The minister also declared that the "magnificent museum" would be among the most modern religious centres of attraction in the country. Not everyone was impressed though. Vinay Katiyar, a fellow BJP leader and a temple spearhead, dubbed the assertions a "lollipop" for Ayodhya. Sharma, whose visit came months before Uttar Pradesh votes early next year, said the "Rs 85-crore project" would be the "most modern museum" when it comes up. "It is an honour for me that I am working for Lord Ram," the minister told reporters in Ayodhya, 150km from Lucknow. "We have identified two places where it could be set up. Everything would be finalised soon." The plots include one that the Samajwadi Party-led state government has offered 15km away from the disputed site for a Ram temple. Sharma did not disclose the location of the other plot but a government official in Lucknow said the BJP was keen on another plot, situated within 2km of the makeshift temple. The minister, who later addressed a public meeting in Karsewakpuram, said: "Today is the beginning of Ram Rajya." "Crores of people of India and the world want to do darshan of Ram Lalla (infant Ram). They want to touch the soil of Ayodhya and see the river Saryu," he said. "Ayodhya town will appear prominently on the map of the world. I am here to start the process for a magnificent museum through which people would be able to see the life of Ram. I am here as a representative of Prime Minister Narendra Modi." Karsewakpuram is the workshop of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad where work on carving stones and constructing columns for the temple has been going on for years. Besides Hanuman Garhi and Kanak Bhawan, two important temples, Sharma offered prayers at the Ram Lalla temple, situated in a temporary tent where the Babri Masjid once stood before it was demolished on December 6, 1992. Sharma also held a meeting with Nritya Gopal Das, the chairman of the Ram Janmabhoomi Trust, a wing of the VHP. His ministry had initially approved Rs 175 crore for a Ramayan circuit, the mythical route Ram is said to have followed. While the amount was later increased to Rs 225 crore, the central government recently announced that the Ramayan museum would also be established as part of the project. But Katiyar, the BJP Rajya Sabha member who founded Karsewakpuram in the early 1990s, was not impressed with the Centre's initiatives. "They should take a concrete decision with regard to construction of the Ram temple. Such lollipops like the Ramayan museum wouldn't help much," he told reporters. Katiyar skipped Sharma's programme at Karsewakpuram, saying he didn't want to face the "saints who could ask him about the Ram temple". "I belong to Ayodhya and have no answer to their question. So I stayed away," he said. "We have 6,000 temples here but will not settle for anything less than a Ram temple. Ayodhya is incomplete without a Ram temple at his birthplace."