Centuries-old desire of Ram temple now a reality: President Murmu

New Delhi, Jan 31 (PTI) President Droupadi Murmu on Wednesday said the centuries-old desire to build the Ram temple in Ayodhya has been fulfilled, as she lauded the work done by the Modi government in the last 10 years which included completing several long-pending projects.

In her first address to the joint sitting in the new Parliament building, Murmu said a country can progress at a fast pace only when it defeats the challenges of the past and puts maximum energy into building the future.

"In the last ten years, the country has witnessed the completion of such projects for which the people had waited for decades. There was the desire for building the Ram Mandir for centuries and today it has become a reality," she said, evoking thumping of desks from the treasury benches.

She said there were apprehensions over the removal of Article 370 from Jammu and Kashmir "but they have become history now".

Murmu arrived in a buggy at the Parliament House to deliver her address to the joint sitting of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha. The president entered the House with the 'sengol' being carried in front of her.

In her address, she also said the Indian economy used to be among the 'fragile five' but was now moving in the right direction and at the right pace due to several reforms undertaken by the government in the last 10 years.

"According to the NITI Aayog, in the 10-year rule of my government, nearly 25 crore people have come out of poverty," she said.

Earlier, the country's rate of inflation was in double digits which is now within 4 per cent, she said.

Murmu congratulated Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the passage of the women's reservation bill.

Those seated in the front rows included Prime Minister Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Union ministers Piyush Goyal and Nitin Gadkari, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Congress' parliamentary party chief Sonia Gandhi.