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Narendra Modi Announces Ram Mandir Trust, Twitter Points To Jobs And Economic Slowdown

Twitter users asked why the government was not talking about unemployment, economy and development instead of the Ram temple in Ayodhya.
File image of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
MONEY SHARMA via Getty Images
File image of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday announced the setting up of a trust for the construction of a Ram temple in Ayodhya. The trust, he said, has been named Sri Ram Janma Bhoomi Tirtha Kshetra.

While making the announcement in the Lok Sabha, he also said that the Uttar Pradesh government has agreed to give five acres of land to the Sunni Waqf Board. The Supreme Court had in November last year paved the way for the construction of a Ram temple at Ayodhya and directed the Centre to allot 5 acre alternative site to the Muslim litigants for construction of a mosque.

Modi further said, “Together, let us all work in the direction of building a grand Ram Mandir.”

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This comes just days before Delhi goes to polls. However, the Election Commission said no permission was required for the announcement. The poll body, according to NDTV, said the deadline for the formation of the rust was February 9 according to the Supreme Court order. The government has to file a compliance report before this, it added.

Modi’s announcement also comes at a time when the economy is going through a slowdown. The BSE Sensex plummeted 988 points on Saturday after the government unveiled its annual budget. Experts weren’t happy with the budget and the state of the economy as well.

Naushad Forbes, co-chairman Forbes Marshall and past president of CII, wrote for The Indian Express that the seriousness of the current slowdown needed to be addressed directly in the budget. He pointed out that the Indian economy is now growing at its lowest rate in years. “Employment is more stressed now than in decades.”

As Modi announced the setting up of the trust for Ram Mandir, several people on Twitter pointed out that the economy and unemployment should be the government’s priority and not the Ram Mandir.

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This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.