Opposition will run bulldozer over Ram temple if voted to power, claims PM Narendra Modi

The Samajwadi Party and the Congress will “run a bulldozer” over the Ram temple in Ayodhya if their Opposition alliance is voted to power, Prime Minister Narendra Modi claimed on Friday.

At an election rally in Uttar Pradesh’s Barabanki, Modi also said that the Opposition parties should learn from Chief Minister Adityanath about how to use bulldozers.

“If SP [Samajwadi Party] and Congress come to power, Ram Lalla will be in a tent again and they will run a bulldozer on Ram temple,” Modi claimed. “They should take tuition from Yogi ji [Chief Minister Adityanath], where to run a bulldozer and where you shouldn’t.”

The Samajwadi Party and the Congress are part of the Opposition INDIA bloc and are contesting the Lok Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh in an alliance.

Modi was referring to the growing trend in recent years of civic authorities in Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled states, especially Uttar Pradesh, demolishing ostensibly illegal properties of those accused of a crime, mostly Muslims. There are no provisions in law that provide for demolishing property as a punitive measure.

Modi on Friday was reiterating the claim he first made at a rally in Madhya Pradesh on May 7.

His claim was dismissed by Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on May 9, who told reporters that the prime minister was speaking “absolute lies”.

“The Congress party had said a number...

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