BHOPAL: Congress government has begun to weigh on the possibilities for building Sita temple at Ashok Vatika in Sri Lanka after the BJP’s failure to do that.
Minister for department of spiritualism PC Sharma is going to Sri Lanka to attend a conference.
He has received an invitation from the Mahabodhi Society and from the foreign ministry of Sri Lanka.
Sharma, accompanied by additional chief secretary of the department of spiritualism Manoj Shrivastava, is going to discuss about the possibilities of construction of Sita temple there. Both of them will visit Ashok Vatika, too.
Both are leaving for the island nation on January 4 and returning on January 10.
They will also discuss with the Mahabodhi Society about how to better the condition of the Sanchi Bauddh University, Sanchi.
Sita temple was to be built on the premises of a Buddhist monastery in Divurompola, Sri Lanka. Sharma will also discuss with the Sri Lankan government about the construction of the temple.
Former Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan announced in 2010 that Sita temple would be built in Sri Lanka.
Although the BJP government remained in power till 2018, it did not do anything for its construction.
Chouhan had also announced that his government would give Rs 1 crore for the temple, but he did not give that money.
After that, the representatives of the state government visited Sri Lanka, but nothing was done for the proposed temple.
In 2013, when the then President of Sri Lanka, Mahindra Rajpaksha, had visited MP, the state government discussed with him about the temple.
The then BJP government announced that the Sri Lank would give permission for it and that a firm in Bangalore had designed the temple.
A sum of Rs 15 crore will be required for construction of the temple.
During the trip to Sri Lanka, Sharma will visit Ashok Vatika and see the possibilities for construction of Sita temple there, he said.
Sharma said only announcements were made and Hindutva was only used to woo voters during the BJP rule.
As the Kamal Nath-led government is in power in the state, it will never renege on its promises, Sharma said.
Sharma said although Chouhan had spoken a lot about construction of Sita temple, he did nothing for it.
Issue came up a few months ago
The matter related to construction of Sita temple in Sri Lanka came up a few months ago. Former Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan accused the state government of talking of checking facts about the construction of Sita temple. The Congress-led government clearly told the BJP that it had done nothing for building the proposed temple.
