Ram temple fillip: Bihar acquires 50 acres in Sitamarhi for Sita temple

After the Ram temple in Ayodhya, plans are afoot to make a “grand temple” for Sita in Sitamarhi district in north Bihar, considered to be her place of birth. The Bihar government has decided, in principle, to acquire 50 acres around an existing temple in Sitamarhi to construct a new temple.

The decision was taken at Friday’s meeting of the Bihar Cabinet.

“Sitamarhi is to Sita what Ayodhya is to Ram. It is a holy land for Hindus. People from all over the world will now come to worship at the Ram temple in Ayodhya, and they would like to visit Sita’s birthplace as well. Our contention is that a grand temple for Sita, befitting her stature, should be built in Sitamarhi,” said Kameshwar Chaupal, a former MLC in Bihar, and a BJP member who is one of the prime movers of the idea.

“There is a temple in Sitamarhi that was built about 100 years ago, but it is not in very good condition. Our proposal has been to build a new temple that is as grand as the Ram temple in Ayodhya,” said Chaupal, the person who had placed the first brick during the Shilanyas, or foundation laying ceremony, of the Ram temple in Ayodhya in 1989.

He is also a trustee of the Ayodhya Temple Trust.

The acquisition of 50 acres would be over and above the 16.63 acres that the Bihar government had acquired earlier for redevelopment of the area around the existing temple premises. The construction of the temple would have to be done by a public trust, just like in the case of Ram Temple, with money raised by it.

“The government cannot build a temple. But there have been demands from several quarters that a grand temple should be built here. The government is acquiring the land to make that possible,” said Dr S Siddharth, Principal Secretary to Bihar Chief Minister