With the construction of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya underway in full swing, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Jaganand Singh on Friday sparked a row as he claimed that the place of worship was being built on the “land of hatred”.

“Ram cannot be imprisoned in a magnificent palace…We are the people who believe in ‘Hey Ram’ and not ‘Jai Shri Ram’,” news agency ANI quoted the leader as saying.

The Bhartiya Janata Party was quick to hit back at the leader’s remark as BJP leader Shehzad Poonawala took to Twitter and wrote, “Abusing Hindu Astha = secularism for RJD-Cong?”

He also claimed that Jaganand Singh had earlier made controversial comments targeting Hindus during PFI ban. In July, the RJD leader had likened radical outfit Popular Front of India to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak, evoking strong protest from the BJP.

“Whenever dangerous people are arrested by security forces for being Pakistani agents, all of them are found to be related to RSS and Hindu community,” a Hindustan Times report quoted Singh as saying.

Meanwhile, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday announced that the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya will be ready by January 1 next year.

Shah said that the Congress and CPI(M) had put the Ram Mandir issue in the jurisdiction of the court for long, while Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone for it after the Supreme Court’s order.

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