Rahul Gandhi should support Ram temple construction to honour his Brahmin credentials: Uma Bharti

Union minister Uma Bharti appealed to Congress president Rahul Gandhi to honour his "Brahmin credentials" by supporting the construction of a Ram temple in Ayodhya.

Describing the Congress as "obstructionist" in construction of the temple, Bharti said the party is trying to "disturb" the atmosphere and is playing vote bank politics on the issue.

Bharti's remarks came on the 26th anniversary of the Babri mosque's demolition in Ayodhya by Hindutva activists in 1992.

"For the sake of his janeu -- a sacred thread wear by Hindus -- and to honour his credentials, Rahul Gandhi should come forward and support the construction of a Ram temple in Ayodhaya. He should convey it to Prime Minister Narendra Modi that he will support ordinance on this issue," Bharti told reporters.

The Congress has described Gandhi-scion as "janeu-dhari Hindu" (one who wears sacred thread). Similarly, last month a priest at Pushkar in Rajasthan said his gotra is Dattatreya Kaul brahmin.

Noting all these developments, Bharti said she is hopeful about him on this issue as for the first time the Congress is telling its chief "janeu-dhari" Hindu and Dattaterya Kaul brahmin.

"He undertook a pilgrimage to Kailash Mansarovar. His party is saying he is a Lord Shiv devotee, if it is really so then he should support the construction of the temple," she said.

Emphasising that the construction of a Ram temple in Ayodhaya is a nationalist work, she urged all political leaders, including Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav, Bahujan Samaj Party leader Mayawati, Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee and Communist Party of India (Marxist)General Secretary Sitaram Yechury, to support this noble cause.

Bharti, a leading figure of Ram Janmabhoomi movement, has been saying the Ayodhya dispute is of land and not of faith. It has been resolved long back that Ayodhya is the birth place of Lord Ram.

Terming Hindus as the "most tolerant" people in the world, Bharti had said any talk of constructing a mosque on the periphery of a Ram temple in Ayodhya could make them "intolerant".