Congress to build Ram temple if it takes power: Harish Rawat

Dehradun, Feb 22 (PTI) Congress General Secretary Harish Rawat on Friday said the party will launch sincere efforts to build a grand Ram Temple at Ayodhya if it comes to power after the Lok Sabha elections.

"On two previous occasions, the Congress made sincere attempts to build the Ram temple when it was in power. We will sincerely launch efforts to build the Ram temple if we come to power," Rawat told reporters here.

Asked whether this the party's official stand, Rawat quipped: "My statement regarding the Ram temple was widely reported in the media. There is no denial from the Congress."

He accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of being insincere on the issue. "BJP is only doing politics on the Ram temple issue," said Rawat. The government must work as a facilitator for building the temple, he said.

On the Pulwama suicide bombing, Rawat accused the BJP of projecting Prime Minister Narendra Modi as the only nationalist in the country.

"I have strong objections on the projection of Modi as the only nationalist in India. We all are nationalists. Everybody in the country is a nationalist," Rawat said.

Criticizing the Uttarakhand BJP government on its budget presented this week, Rawat said the declining agriculture and manufacturing growth in the state was a matter of grave concern.

He said nearly a dozen factories had been closed in the state after the November 7 investors meet. He also claimed that of the nine lakh farmers in the state, 50,000 have quit farming in the past two years.

Rawat said the government's decision to relax the stringent land laws would force the people to migrate to other states.

"Top industrialists like Adani and Ramdev would buy all the land. There will be no land left for living," said Rawat.