Ayodhya railway station to be Ram temple replica: Minister

New Delhi, February 21

Railway Minister Piyush Goyal today said the railways is planning to build Ayodhya station on the model of a temple to connect people to Lord Ram's birthplace and there was nothing objectionable if its design was the one conceptualised by the VHP for the Ram Janmabhoomi temple.

Responding to a question on reports of railways' junior minister Manoj Sinha's comments yesterday in Ayodhya, where he said that the railway station would be built as a replica of the Ram temple, Goyal did not deny the plan but said the design was yet to be finalised.

He said that the idea was conceptualised by him to link railway stations with the history of the place.

Giving an example, he mentioned he had recently instructed that the entrance of Belagavi Railway Station in Karnataka be built like the Sabarmati Ashram in Gujarat. It was in the memory of Mahatma Gandhi who had used the same station when he came to attend the All India Congress convention held in 1924, Goyal said.

"In Ayodhya, if it (railway station) is connected to the birthplace of Lord Ram, if Mathura is connected to the Vrindavan temple, if Ajmer Sharif is connected to the dargah or mosque over there and if Agra is connected to the Taj Mahal, I think it’s a great contribution of the Railways to teach our history to the next generation,” he said. — PTI