Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath | Photo Credit: PTI

Key Highlights UP CM Yogi Adityanath sought Rs 11 and a stone from each family for Ram temple's construction during an election rally in Jharkhand He attacked the JMM and Congress accusing them of doing vote bank politics and not paying heed to people's demands

Ranchi: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Friday stoked a new controversy when he requested Rs 11 and a stone from each family for construction of Ram Temple in Ayodhya. He made the bizarre request during an election rally in Jharkhand.

While addressing the rally in Jharkhand's Bagodar, Yogi Adityanath lauded the efforts of Prime Minister Narendra Modi for ending the 500-year-old land dispute and enabling the Hindus to finally build a grand Ram mandir at the site. He then slammed the Opposition parties like Congress, RJD and CPI-ML accusing them of "prolonging the Ayodhya dispute for vote bank politics".

While the public present at the rally chanted "Jai Shri Ram", the Uttar Pradesh CM said, "Very soon a grand Ram temple will be built in Ayodhya. Every family should contribute Rs 11 and a stone for the Ram temple."

"I come from the state which gave Lord Rama and his system of governance was called Ramrajya, a system where polices are made keeping in mind the village, poor, youth, women and every section of the society without creating any differences. The same work is being done by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi," he added.

Adityanath also talked about the controversial citizenship law, which was recently passed in Parliament. He said that while PM Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah were trying to give citizenship to Hindus who have been persecuted in neighbouring countries, Congress, RJD and CPI-ML were "speaking the language of Pakistan" by opposing the law.

He then trained guns at Jharkhand Janmukti Morcha (JMM) alleging that the party only wants power to serve its own families and it does not care about the poor, youth, women and other people of the society.

Three phases of the ongoing Jharkhand Assembly elections have been successfully conducted while the remaining two phases will be held on December 16 and December 20. The results will be announced on December 23.