As Hindus are set to reclaim their long-awaited glory with Bhoomi Pujan of Ram Mandir in Ayodhya on August 5, Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel announced the construction of a grand temple of Mata Kaushalya, Mother of Bhagwan Ram, near the state capital Raipur, while maintaining the original structure. Chandkhuri, where Mata Kaushalya was born, is in Chhattisgarh. The place already has a temple of Mata Kaushalya, and the Chhattisgarh government will beautify the premises.
“The state government is developing Ram Van Gaman Marg as a tourist destination to glorify it on both the national and international level,” said the CM in a twitter thread, adding that the construction work of the temple in Chandkhuri will start in August.
प्रभु श्री राम के ननिहाल चंदखुरी का सौंदर्य अब पौराणिक कथाओं के नगरों जैसा ही आकर्षक होगा।
राजधानी रायपुर के निकट स्थित इस गांव के प्राचीन कौशल्या मंदिर के मूल स्वरूप को यथावत रखते हुए, पूरे परिसर के सौंदर्यीकरण की रूपरेखा तैयार कर ली गई है।
।।जय सिया राम।। pic.twitter.com/6Rm1cGk48U
— Bhupesh Baghel (@bhupeshbaghel) August 1, 2020
Ram Van Gaman Paryatan Paripath, the path Bhagwan Ram traversed before entering South India, is being developed as a tourist destination by the Chhattisgarh government. Bhagwan Ram has spent significant time in Chhattisgarh during his exile of 14 years; and the places he visited including Sitamadi-Harchauka (Koriya), Ramgarh (Ambikapur), Shivrinarayan (Janjgir-Champa), Turturiya (Balodabazar), Chandkhuri (Raipur), Rajim (Gariband), Sihava-Saptrishi Ashram (Dhamtari), Jagdalpur (Bastar), Ramaram (Sukma), which have been identified as tourist hotspots.
The project is estimated to cost around 137 crore rupees and the government has already allocated 5 crore rupees in last year’s budget and 10 crores in this year’s budget. Apart from the government’s support, private players are also encouraged to invest in the construction.
On November 5, last year, when a 5-judge bench unanimously ruled the verdict in the favour of Hindus, the Congress party, surprisingly, welcomed the apex court’s judgment on Ram Mandir. The chief spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala had said, “The Supreme Court has delivered its judgment. As such, we support the building of a Ram temple in Ayodhya.”
“The Indian National Congress respects the decision of the Supreme Court in the Ayodhya case. The party requests all concerned parties and all communities to maintain an atmosphere of peace and tranquillity, and uphold the established ideals of “Sarva Dharma Sambhav” and high values of brotherhood,” he added.
It must be noted that in 2005, the UPA government under the leadership of Dr. Manmohan Singh had ruled out the existence of Ram. Not only this, but the old party had also started preparing to start work on building a dam on the site of the original Ram Setu.
At that time, the BJP strongly opposed this decision. In 2006, the UPA government, in its affidavit as filed in the Supreme Court, said that there is no historical evidence about Ram and there is no firm evidence that the ‘Ram-Setu’ was constructed by mythological characters.
Mocking the sentiments of millions of Hindus, there was a plan by then UPA government to remove the Shri Ram Setu and hence paving the way for the Setu Samudram Project (SSCP) in 2005. However, owing to this, Subramanian Swamy filed a petition in the court against the project, after which he won this case by nullifying the scheme of the then UPA government. In this whole process, he had prevented the dirty conspiracy of the Congress from being successful and also prevented a major and an important judicial battle.
After the court’s ruling on November 5, 2019, Congress party fell in line to support the building of Ram Mandir. Now the state government ruled by Congress is building a grand temple of Bhagwan Ram’s mother, and this is a welcome change on the part of the party.
