BJP MP demands house for Lord Ram under PMAY scheme, writes to Ayodhya DM

As 2019 Lok Sabha elections are approaching the country, the politics over Ram Mandir in Ayodhya has already intensified with several right-wing outfits demanding a grand temple of Lord Ram. Now, a ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP has made a weird demand – a house for Lord Ram in Ayodhya under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana. Hari Narayan Rajbhar, a BJP parliamentarian from Uttar Pradesh’s Ghosi, has written to Ayodhya district magistrate seeking a house for Lord Ram in Ayodhya under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana. According to news agency ANI, the BJP MP argued that Lord Ram “has been living in a tent” - the makeshift sanctum sanctorum where an idol of Lord Ram is installed at the disputed site. 

The BJP leader said that Lord Ram was living under extreme weather conditions – bone-chilling winter, scorching heat in summers and rains – without a roof over his head. “The Union government is duty-bound to provide shelter to the homeless, so the district officials must provide a house under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana for Lord Ram,” he wrote in a letter to Ayodhya DM.

BJP MP from Uttar Pradesh's Ghosi, Hari Narayan Rajbhar has written to Ayodhya DM seeking a house under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana for Lord Ram as 'he has been living in a tent.’ (file pic) pic.twitter.com/3NiyhwwW7G

— ANI (@ANI) December 28, 2018

The PMAY is a central government scheme to provide a pucca house to all the Indians by 2022. The scheme is categorised into two parts: Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Urban (PMAY-U) and Pradhan Mantra Awas Yojana-Gramin or Rural (PMAY-G). However, the scheme is only for a family/household who doesn't own a pucca house in any parts of the country either in his name of any of his family member's name.

The construction of a grand temple of Lord Ram at Ram Janmabhoomi in Ayodhya is one of the key promises the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had made in 2014. However, with most of its tenure almost over, the building a temple looks a far-fetched dream. Now when the party has to seek re-election in less than 100 days, its ideological mentor the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and other right-wing affiliates are pushing the Narendra Modi government to start the construction of the temple as soon as possible. Hard-line Hindu outfit the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and BJP’s ally in Maharashtra and Centre Shiv Sena have been demanding the Narendra Modi government to bring an ordinance to start the construction.