JDU donates ₹1.11 lakh for Ayodhya Ram temple construction

The cheques, worth ₹1,11,11, were handed over to RSS office-bearers by JD(U) national president RCP Singh.

Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar led Janata Dal (United), the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) alliance partner, on Monday donated a cheque worth ₹1,11,111 for Ram mandir construction in Ayodhya. The cheques were handed over to Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) office-bearers Mohan Singh, Ramnavmi ji and Raman Pratap by JD(U) national president RCP Singh.

File photo: Bihar chief minister and JDU chief Nitish Kumar. (ANI)

BJP state president Dr Sanjay Jaiswal and state general secretary Devesh Kumar were present on the occasion.

Speaking on the occasion, RSS leaders said that Lord Ram "belongs to all” and just to any particular political party.

In 2018, the JD(U) made it clear that it was not in favour of the promulgation of an ordinance to facilitate the construction of Ram temple in Ayodhya, demand for which has been made by the Sangh Parivar and a section of the BJP.

Singh, at that time, had said that the party will stick to its earlier stand on the issue in its earlier avatar as the Samata Party which was - the issue should either be solved by mutual consent between the affected communities or be decided by a court of law.

Even before walking out of the NDA in 2013, the JD(U) had always insisted that abrogating Article 370, Ram temple in Ayodhya, and the Uniform Civil Code should be kept out of the coalition agenda.

Although chief minister Nitish Kumar had maintained silence on the issue, incumbent water resources minister Sanjay Kumar Jha made a mention of the Ram temple bhoomi pujan in one of his tweets last year.

“Sita and Ram reside in the hearts of every resident in Mithila,” Jha had posted. Mithila, a region in Bihar, is said to be the birthplace of Goddess Sita.