Build Sita's statue alongside Ram's, let Ayodhya do justice to her: Karan Singh to Yogi Adityanath

Veteran Congress leader Karan Singh has suggested to the Uttar Pradesh government building Lord Ram's statue along with that of Mata Sita on the banks of river Saryu instead of erecting a solitary one of the 'Maryadapurushotam'. Singh made the suggestion in a letter to UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, saying building Lord Sita's statue alongside one of Lord Ram would be in line with the long-pending justice to the "noble lady", who faced greater struggle than her husband.

"After all these centuries let Ayodhya at last do justice to the memory of this great and noble lady," said the scion of the erstwhile royal family of Jammu and Kashmir, while also ruing that his earlier letter on the issue has not even been acknowledged.

To have Sita's statue alongside Lord Ram's on the bank of Saryu in Ayodhya, Singh suggested even reducing the Lord Ram's statute to half.

"I do feel that at last justice should be done to Sita ji. I, therefore, suggest that instead of constructing one very tall statue of Sri Ram, you should halve the height and make twin statues of Sri Ram and Sita ji," said the Congress leader in his letter.

In his letter to the chief minister, the first Sadr-e-Riyasat of J&K also recalled the greater struggle faced by Sita ji, and said, "There seems to be a recent tendency to forget Sita ji altogether and concentrate only on Sri Ram. This will be adding another injustice to what this noble lady suffered in her own lifetime."

Recalling that almost immediately after her marriage with Ram, Sita ji went into exile along with her husband, Singh said after staying in forests for many years with Lord Ram, she was abducted by Ravana and imprisoned in Sri Lanka.

"At the end of the terrible war, in which huge numbers of 'vanaras' and 'rakshasas' were killed, she was obliged to undergo 'agni pariksha' - examination by fire," pointed out Singh.

"Although she emerged unscathed from that ordeal, and returned to Ayodhya in triumph along with Sri Ram, it was not long before that due to malicious gossip, she was again sent to the forest even though she was pregnant," wrote Singh.

The BJP government in Uttar Pradesh has decided to build a 221-metre-tall statue of Lord Ram on the banks of the Saryu in the temple town.

The structure would consist of a 151-metre statue, a 20-metre umbrella overhead, and a 50-metre pedestal, totalling 221 metre high.