Consecration of Ayodhya temple a prelude to 'Ram Rajya': Rajnath Singh

Chatra (Jharkhand), Mar 15 (PTI) Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday asserted that the days were not far when 'Ram Rajya' will be established in India, which would be among the top three economies in the world by 2027.

He also hit out at those branding the BJP communal over the implementation of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act or CAA and demanded to know under what circumstances the population of Hindus in Pakistan dwindled to about 3 per cent from about 23 per cent.

Addressing a rally at Itkhori, around 160 km from state capital Ranchi, Singh said, "Ram Rajya will be established in India with the consecration of Ayodhya temple... Ram Lalla has reached his palace from his hut." "India will be 'vishwaguru' (world leader) under Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the back of development work undertaken by him and it is God's wish that he remains PM not only for the third time but for the fourth time also," he said.

On CAA, he said, minorities including Hindus, Sikhs, Christians and Parsis were facing religious persecution in countries like Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan and were coming to India for shelter.

"We decided to give them citizenship... the BJP is branded as communal for this," he said.

Hitting out at former Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren, he said it was unprecedented in India's history that a CM went missing but now he is behind bars for corruption.

"No one can point fingers at the BJP government over corruption unlike previous Congress regimes," Singh said. PTI