BJP cheated people, did politics in name of Lord Ram: Faizabad MP Awadhesh Prasad

Lucknow: Newly elected Samajwadi Party MP from Faizabad Awadhesh Prasad on Thursday attacked the BJP, saying this party is not the "real" follower of Lord Ram, and accused it of doing politics in his name and cheating the people.

Prasad defeated his nearest rival from the BJP, Lallu Singh, by 54,567 votes in Uttar Pradesh's Faizabad parliamentary seat, where a grand Ram temple was built in Ayodhya on the orders of the Supreme Court and Prime Minister Narendra Modi had led its consecration ceremony on January 22.

"The BJP did politics in the name of Ayodhya. They have worked against the dignity of Maryada Purushottam Ram," Prasad told PTI-Videos.

During the just-concluded Lok Sabha elections, BJP leaders had given the credit of the Ram temple's construction to Modi and the issue was also one of the party's key poll planks.

When asked about the BJP's slogan "Jo Ram ko laaye hain hum unko layenge" (those who have brought Ram, we will bring them), Prasad.

"They (BJP) have not brought Ram. This was their false slogan. The public has understood this very well. No one brought Ram. Ram himself came thousands of years ago."

"Ram is in everyone's heart. He is the centre of everyone's faith. They (BJP) were doing politics in the name of Ram and have cheated the country. They have ruined the country," he said.

Describing himself as a "real" Ram bhakt (follower of Lord Ram), Prasad said, "I am very fortunate that I was born in Ayodhya. I have studied there. My grandfather, father, brother and maternal uncle are named after Ram. We (the Samajwadi Party) contested elections from a seat on which the whole world was watching...people of the BJP are not the real followers of Ram. We are the real ones."

On BJP's promise that it would bring Ram Rajya in the country, the MP said in Ram Rajya, people did not suffer. But during the BJP's tenure people faced every kind of problem whether it was inflation or unemployment, Prasad said.

Hitting out at the BJP on the four-year army recruitment scheme Agnipath, Prasad said, "By doing this, our country's army was insulted." "When our INDIA bloc government is formed, then the Agniveer Yojana will be abolished," he added.