Senior Samajwadi Party leader Ram Govind Chaudhary today said the Ram temple issue could have been sorted out long back had the Babri mosque not been demolished.
"The Ram temple issue would have been resolved but then L K Advani took out a rath yatra and the demolition took place, the Leader of the Opposition in UP assembly told reporters here.
This stalled the issue," he added.
Chaudhary held the Bharatiya Janata Party and the RSS responsible for a Ram temple not coming up at the disputed site in Ayodhya where the Babri Masjid was demolished in 1992.
In 1990, BJP leader L K Advani had taken out a rath yatra in support of the construction of a Ram temple in Ayodhya, but was arrested in Bihar in the middle of the yatra.
The SP leader referred to the installation in 1949 of the Ram idol at the Babri Masjid-Ramjnmabhumi dispute site, which was locked up due to the tension that followed.
The then chief minister of UP Vir Bahadur Singh got the locks opened and a 'shilanyas' (for the temple) done, through the then prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, he said referring to the 1989 event.
The matter could have been resolved at that time itself but Advaniji took out the rath yatra," he said.
The SP leader said for his party Lord Ram is a matter of belief and is revered, but the BJP considers him as its 'vote devta' (deity which brings in the votes).
"The manner in which the BJP is cashing on the name of Lord Ram and speaking untruth, it has earned the ire of the Lord, Chaudhary said.
This is reflected in various natural calamities, which are a sort of punishment, he said.
Lord Ram will destroy the BJP," the SP leader added.
Answering another question, he said there has been no deliberation on bringing a no-confidence motion against the BJP-led government in Uttar Pradesh.
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