Country Will Stop Trusting us, if we Don’t Begin Ram Temple Construction in Ayodhya This Time: Shiv Sena’s Sanjay Raut

Sanjay Raut's statement came a few days before Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray's visit to Ayodhya on June 15.

Mumbai: Shiv Sena’s Sanjay Raut on Thursday that ‘the country will stop trusting us, if we don’t begin the construction of Ram temple in Ayodhya’.

“I feel this time around Ram temple’s construction will start because if we don’t, the country will stop trusting us. Now BJP has 303 MPs, Shiv Sena has 18, NDA has more than 350, what more is needed to construct the temple?” he was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.

Further, he added, “In 2014, we promised construction of the Ram temple but we did not accomplish it. The concluded election was also fought in the name of Lord Ram. Before elections, we went to Ayodhya with party chief Uddhav Thackrey ji, we have committed ourselves to the construction of the temple and I feel this time around Ram temple’s construction will start. Because if we don’t, the country will stop trusting us and us with shoes in anger.”

Notably, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), in its Lok Sabha Elections 2019 manifesto, had stated that it would ‘explore possibilities within the framework of the Constitution and take necessary steps to expedite construction of Ram temple’.

This is not the first time that Raut has raked up the issue of Ram temple construction in Ayodhya. In November last year, he had said that Ram temple issue was not a subject for the courts but a subject of sentiment and national honour and that his party’s campaign will continue for the same.

“Shiv Sena is committed to the construction of Ram temple. We have struggled for it. The temple is not the subject of courts but of sentiments and national honour,” Raut told reporters at an event in Lucknow.

Meanwhile, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray is reportedly scheduled to be visiting Ayodhya on June along with 18 party MPs.