JAMMU: Lord Rama is the "soul of the nation", Union minister Mahesh Sharma on Friday said while he came out in defence of Uttar Pradesh Governor Ram Naik's statement advocating construction of Ram temple on the disputed site in Ayodhya.
"Ayodhya is known by Rama, and Rama is the soul of this country, this nation. Now if something wrong has been done to that, and it is the feeling of the Governor that a Ram Mandir should be built there, he has made a statement he is in the statutory position, let people accept or reject his opinion," Sharma told reporters on the sidelines of a function here on Friday.
"Ram Mandir should be built as soon as possible. That is the wish of the Indian citizens and the wish should be fulfilled," Naik said yesterday at the convocation programme of Awadh University at Faizabad, where he was the chief guest.
Replying to a question on the row surrounding the alleged conversion in UP, Sharma, who is Member Parliament from Gautam Buddha Nagar of the state, said that there was no place for conversion in the country.
"There is no place for conversion in this country, no place of conversion by cohesion, by allurement. I think our government is clear on this thing, our ministers have also said that there is no place for such actions," Sharma said.
He said that the issue was a "state subject" and the state government has to take a decision on this, and his party had nothing to do with it.
"This is the issue raised by a person. We have to find out when the conversion actually started, this has to be studied in details. This is a state subject and the BJP has nothing to do with it, let the state find out and if someone has done wrong it should be left to the state government to take action and punish the guilty," he said.