BHOPAL: Former Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, interacting with media on Tuesday, said the state government is insulting the faith of Hindus by inquiring stay of Goddess Sita in Sri Lanka.
Chouhan said the whole nation and the world know that Goddess Sita stayed at Ashok Vatika in Sri Lanka and it is a matter of faith and belief of crores of Hindus.
Chouhan said during his visit to Sri Lanka he had visited the place where Goddess Sita underwent Agni Pariksha. The state government decided to give Rs one crore for the construction of a temple of Goddess Sita there.
Chouhan claimed that the present state government is talking of getting inquiry done into the facts rather than going ahead with the proposal.
Chouhan said some matters are above party politics, works like construction of temple of Goddess Sita and construction of statue of God Shankaracharya are such which should not be stopped even with the change of government. He appealed to the government not to stop the construction of the temple.
Chouhan alleged that Congress always does the work of hurting the sentiments. He claimed that Congress government has adopted this approach whether it was the issue of Ram Setu, construction of temple of Goddess Sita, statue of God Shankaracharya or construction of Advait Vedant Sansthan.
The decision to set up Buddhist University at Sanchi was taken to strengthen religious tourism and friendly relations between India and Sri Lanka.
Chouhan further claimed that the Congress government has curtailed the budget of spiritualism department from Rs 247 crore to Rs 98 crore. It also cut the budget of Teerath Darshan scheme from Rs 200 crore to Rs 30 crore. Chouhan alleged that the Congress government is continuously hurting the sentiments.
