UP Cooperative Minister Mukut Bihari Verma said, "Construction of Ram Temple in Ayodhya is our resolve. Supreme Court is ours. The judiciary, this country and the temple is ours too." (Photo: Twitter@MukutBihariVer1)

A minister in the Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh has made a controversial comment on the Supreme Court and the Ram Mandir issue. Mukut Bihari Verma, who is the state's cooperative minister, claimed that the Ram temple would be constructed in Ayodhya "because the Supreme Court is ours".

Speaking to mediapersons in Bahraich district, the minister said, "Construction of Ram temple in Ayodhya is our resolve. The Supreme Court is ours. The judiciary, this country and the temple [are] ours too."

He said that though the BJP has come to power on the plank of development, the Ram temple would be constructed because the party is determined to do so, news agency ANI said.

ALSO READ | UP deputy CM hints at bringing legislation in Parliament for Ram Mandir

This comment comes at a time when the case pertaining to the Ram temple issue is pending before the Supreme Court.

Immediately after making this controversial statement, the minister tried to downplay it. Issuing a clarification, he said, "[By saying that the] Supreme Court is ours, I mean that we are residents of this country and we believe in the Supreme Court. I never said that it belongs to our government."

In August, Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya had said that the central government could bring up a legislation in Parliament to facilitate the construction of a Ram temple in Ayodhya. He had said that if all options were closed, this could be done once the government has adequate numbers in the Rajya Sabha.

Maurya's statement came after some religious leaders had demanded that Parliament should make a law in favour of constructing the Ram temple in Ayodhya. Maurya's statement was criticised by the Opposition.

ALSO WATCH | Ram Mandir issue: Ultimate vindication of long-cherished desire or harbinger of political hatred?