Uttar Pradesh deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya said on Thursday temples and corridors are not election issues for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Reiterating his controversial statement in a tweet wherein he spoke about a grand temple in Mathura, Maurya said while a grand Ram temple is being constructed in Ayodhya and work is underway on the Kashi Vishwanath corridor project in Varanasi, wait is on for the construction of a temple at Krishna Janmabhoomi in Mathura.
Mathura is considered to be the birthplace of Lord Krishna. The supposed temple site, a subject of multiple lawsuits, is located inside an Aurangzeb-era mosque in Mathura and shares its premises with a prominent temple.
Maurya’s repeated statements on the issue that came despite prohibitory orders being in place in the temple town is likely to have been made in view of the upcoming Assembly election in the state.
On November 28, the Mathura district administration imposed prohibitory orders under CrPC Section 144 following an announcement by the Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha to install a Krishna idol at the deity’s “actual birthplace”, which it claims is inside the mosque.
“Nobody will be allowed to disturb the peace and tranquility in Mathura,” district magistrate Navneet Singh Chahal had said then.