UP Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya calls for ‘grand temple in Mathura’

“Ayodhya Kashi bhavya mandir nirmaan jaari hai, Mathura ki tayyari hai ,” said Maurya in a tweet, in what appeared to be inspired from the slogan – ‘Yeh toh kewal jhaanki hai, Kashi, Mathura baaki hai (This is merely a glimpse, Kashi and Mathura remain)’ – that raged through the Ram Mandir movement and Babri Masjid demolition in the early 90s in Ayodhya.

Maurya’s statement came not just in the runup to elections in UP, but also less than a week before the anniversary of the Babri Masjid demolition on December 6.

The Mathura district administration had recently imposed section 144 after the Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha said it would install an idol of Lord Krishna inside the Shahi Idgah mosque built adjacent to the Krishna temple complex. The Hindu religious body later cancelled its plan.

While construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya is underway since the Supreme Court verdict in 2019 and is being projected as a major poll plank now by the BJP government, the Kashi-Vishwanath corridor – Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s dream project – is slated to be inaugurated later this month. The Kashi Vishwanath temple-Gyanvapi Mosque issue and the Krishna Janmbhoomi-Idgah Mosque issues are being heard by courts.

“BJP has the agenda of robbing the poor and filling the pockets of the rich, it has always worked to benefit the rich. No rath yatra or mantra is going to help BJP in the upcoming polls,” Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav told a news agency, commenting on Maurya’s tweet.