'No need to take visa from Babar's followers to pray at Ram temple'

A day after Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath asked people to accept the "truth" that Mughal rulers were "invaders", his cabinet colleague Shrikant Sharma said devotees of Lord Ram do not need anyone's approval to offer prayers at the makeshift temple in Ayodhya.

His remark came during a visit to Ayodhya in adjoining Faizabad district where he sought blessings of Ram Lalla at the makeshift temple.

"Ram bhakts (devotees of Lord Ram) do not need any visa from any anuyaayee (follower) of Babar for having a darshan (glimpse) of Ram Lalla," Sharma said.

"Nearly 500 years ago, invaders had tried to destroy the symbol of our culture," he added.

He cited Supreme Court's (March 21) suggestion for an out-of-court settlement of the lingering Ram Janma Bhoomi-Babri Masjid land dispute at Ayodhya.

Sharma said he welcomed the SC's suggestion for an out-of-court settlement in the Ayodhya land dispute case and urged that people from all sections of society must sit together and deliberate and find a way forward for construction of grand Ram Temple in Ayodhya.

"Enough of politics has been done in the name of Lord Ram. Time has now come for holistic development of Ayodhya," he said.

• Ayodhya MLA: 'Ram temple will be built'

At a function held in Lucknow to mark the birth anniversary of Maharana Pratap, Chief Minister Adityanath had on Tuesday termed Mughal rulers Akbar, Aurangzeb and Babar as "invaders" and asked youngsters to follow leaders like Maharana Pratap.

"Maharana Pratap, Guru Gobind Singh and Chhatrapati Shivaji are our role models, and we must follow the path shown by them. Youngsters must learn a lesson from the self-respect and strength of character from Maharana Pratap. Akbar, Aurangzeb and Babar were invaders. The sooner we accept the truth, all the problems of our country will vanish," he had said.

The UP government had on Wednesday approved formation of a municipal corporation for Ayodhya, besides making a similar announcement for Mathura and Vrindavan.

Sharma, the power minister, said the BJP-led government is committed to all-round and holistic development of all the pilgrimage centres in the state.

The Ayodhya municipal corporation will cover the twin cities of Faizabad and Ayodhya, while Mathura-Vrindavan municipal corporation will look after the civic needs in the two pilgrim towns.

"The demand for a municipal corporations in Ayodhya-Faizabad and Mathura-Vrindava has been pending for the past 15 years. But successive state governments never paid any attention to this important issue," UP BJP spokesperson Manish Shukla said.