First read these two statements… First: Nitish Babu has developed the Punauradham temple and its entire complex with hundreds of crores of rupees on the birthplace of Mata Sita. It is a matter of pleasure for devotees of Mithilanchal, Bihar and all over the country. -Amit Shah, Union Home Minister, on 8 August
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Second: Sitamarhi is the center of faith and faith. The Archaeological Survey of India has not yet excavated in Sitamarhi. Because of this, Sita is the birthplace here, no evidence has been found. -Mahesh Sharma, in Rajya Sabha on April 12, 2017 (BJP leader Mahesh Sharma was then Union Tourism Minister, although he was quoted by Valmiki Ramayana that there is no question on the birthplace of Mother Sita.)
Mahesh Sharma’s reply was disputed. JDU MP Dr. Anil Kumar Sahni said in the Rajya Sabha that this is an insult to Sita Mata. Now on August 8, 2025, Home Minister Amit Shah and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar simultaneously performed Bhoomi Pujan of Mata Janaki temple at Punauradham, Sitamarhi.
The photo is of the foundation stone of the Sita temple in Punaradham. Political experts are considering it as the beginning of temple politics in Bihar like UP.
The Sita temple is to be built on the lines of Ram temple in Ayodhya. It will cost 883 crore rupees. It is believed that King Janak got Sita in a gold pitcher while plowing the field here. On the other hand, Janakpur in Nepal is also considered the birthplace of Sita.
Bihar has elections after two months. In addition to Mithilanchal, what effect this temple could have on the whole of Bihar, Dainik Bhaskar spoke to experts, leaders and common people.
People said- if the temple is built, you will get work, business will increase Gautam Goswami, who came to Punaradham, is a resident of Sitamarhi. He says, ‘This temple is being built 8 km from us. The formation of this will provide employment to the youth. We can start business of small goods here. It should not be associated with politics.
Kiran Gupta of Sitamarhi says, ‘If Ram temple was built in Ayodhya, it was also necessary to build a Sita temple. This will change a lot. Sitamarhi will be connected to tourism. This will strengthen the businessmen. People will come from outside. ‘
Surajbhan Pratap Gupta is happy to build the temple, but there is also anger over the construction of Ram temple first. He says, ‘If the temple is built, development will increase. This was very important. We are very happy. ‘
‘Nitish’s entry in the board before the election’ Senior Journalist Arun Pandey believes that BJP has tried to try the temple politics in Bihar once before. This time too, BJP is trying to move out of the pitch of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s mandal politics and go through the kamandal.
Arun Pandey says, ‘Backward population in Bihar is more than 63%. Nitish Kumar understood well that if he has to do long politics in Bihar, then it would have to be made in this way. This is the reason why he always put the BJP behind.
At the same time, senior journalist Indra Bhushan says, ‘The grand alliance under the leadership of RJD is trying to strengthen the election by mobilizing OBC-BC and Dalit. The same situation in front of BJP was also in the neighboring state of Uttar Pradesh.
‘Trying to help caste politics with religious polarization’ Manikant Thakur, a political expert and a BBC journalist, says, “There is no doubt that the foundation stone of Sita temple will benefit BJP. Opposition parties are trying to share castes by raising the demand for caste census and reservation in Bihar.
His biggest effort is that Hindu votes cannot be polarized. The more successful they are in this, the more benefit they will benefit in the election. BJP knows that they cannot succeed without polarization of Hindus. This is also a real fight.
Hindutva politics has been failing so far in Bihar It is a matter of 1990. VP Singh, who then implemented the report of the Mandal Commission for backward castes, was the government. Here, BJP leader LK Advani was taking out a rath yatra from Somnath to Ayodhya for the construction of Ram temple. His Rath Yatra via Dhanbad entered Bihar. Then Bihar was recovering from the impact of the Bhagalpur riots in 1989. RJD Chief Lalu Prasad Yadav became the new CM.
Advani crossed the Ganges via Patna via Gaya and reached Samastipur in North Bihar. On 22 October 1990, Lalu ordered the arrest of Advani. He was arrested from the Circuit House at midnight.
Two big messages came out of Lalu’s decision- first: The politics of Mandal (caste) will not be done in Bihar, not Kamandal (Dharma). Second: Along with Mandal, he also made Muslims into his camp.
After 1990, the roots of the mandal in Bihar entered so deeply that the politics of religion could not make a place. During this time the BJP remained in the government with the help of Nitish, but could never do politics with religion.
Now Nitish Kumar is in the last stop of his politics. This is his worst phase. He has only 43 MLAs. BJP started its agenda with the help of Sita Mata’s temple in Sitamarhi. BJP defeated Mandal in UP due to the politics of religion. Now the same formula can be gradually implemented in Bihar.
BJP’s use of temple in its stronghold, reduced risk of loss Mithilanchal is considered a stronghold of NDA, especially BJP. Mithilanchal has 46 assembly seats in 6 districts Sitamarhi, Shivhar, Darbhanga, Madhubani Samastipur and Begusarai. NDA won 31 out of 46 seats in the 2020 election. BJP won 19 seats and JDU won 12 seats. Only 15 candidates of the Grand Alliance won.
Political expert Manikant Thakur says, ‘People have been demanding a long time in Mithilanchal that a grand temple should be built here. BJP knows well that this experiment has no negative effect. Yes, the opposition may be worried that BJP should not strengthen itself with these measures.
Manikant Thakur further explains, ‘There is never only one factor effective in elections. BJP also knows this very well. By the time elections, there are many such situations which affect the election. At the national level, there are issues like Operation Sindoor, Pahalgam, which affects the election. After the construction of the temple, BJP will definitely get some strength in Hindu vote.
‘Temple is faith for Hindus and Mufid for BJP’ Amarnath Tiwari, Senior Assistant Editor of the English newspaper ‘The Hindu’, says, ‘There is a large section of Hindus, which is more affected by the temple. This is the reason that after the Ram temple in UP, BJP has made a big event at the religious and political level in the Sita temple in Punoradham in Bihar. Punaradham is considered to be the birthplace of Sita, while the central government has previously denied it.
On April 12, 2017, BJP’s Rajya Sabha MP Prabhat Jha had asked the central government that there is no dispute about the birthplace of Sita in Punora Dham, so why is the temple not being built here, what is the evidence related to the birthplace of Sita Mata?
In response to this, Mahesh Sharma, who was the Union Tourism Minister, replied, ‘The Archaeological Survey of India has not done any excavation in Sitamarhi district so far. Therefore, there is no historical proof of telling Sitamarhi the birthplace of Sita.
‘Now it will be too early to say how beneficial the foundation stone of the temple will prove to be the foundation stone before the election. Yes, BJP is trying to prove that it will do Hindutva politics in Bihar too.
The people of Nepal fear- devotees coming to Janakpur will be reduced Dainik Bhaskar also spoke to people in Nepal at the temple to be built in Punoradham. Sunil Chaudhary, a resident of Janakpur, says, ‘There are two types of things in Janakpur on the temple being built in Sitamarhi, Bihar. The Sant Samaj is considering it as correct because Sitamarhi was a part of Mithila state according to religious texts. It is believed that Sitaji got there to King Janak.
‘There are other people of Janakpur, who are thinking that if the temple of Mata is built in Sitamarhi, then the devotees who come to see Nepal will be reduced. For the first time in India, the huge temple of Sita Mata has been worked. This has not been done in Janakpur yet. There is a temple here, but its popularity is very limited.
Shiva Singh Oli, MLA from Nepal Far West West seat opposes Sitamarhi Temple. She is in the Nepal Communist Party (UML) running the government. Shiva says, ‘If a temple is built in Sitamarhi, we will present wrong history to our children. The whole world knows that mother Sita was born in Janakpur, Nepal. There is no justification for building his birthplace temple in Bihar.
What are the political parties saying… JDU: Sitamarhi cannot get anything bigger than the government JDU MP Devesh Chandra Thakur from Sitamarhi, who arrived at the foundation stone program of the temple, says, “There is no greater donation from the government for the development of Sitamarhi. Soon after the establishment of Lord Rama, the process of establishing mother Sita has started. Opposition parties do not believe in God. Mother Sita’s appearance was here. No politics should be seen in this.
BJP: Ram temple and Janaki temple were built due to double engine government BJP MLA and Urban Vikas Mantra Jeevesh Mishra says, ‘After the temple of Lord Ram, now in -laws are also being built. What could have been a bigger thing than this. Mithila was blessed. This has been possible only because of the government of double engine.
RJD: First of all we approved the construction of the temple In September 2023, the cabinet sanctioned Rs 72 crore for the development of Mata Sita’s birthplace at Punauradham. Then there was a Grand Alliance government. Nitish Kumar was CM and RJD and Congress were also part of the government.
Tejashwi Yadav was the deputy CM. Now Tejashwi Yadav is the Leader of Opposition. On the foundation stone of the temple, he said, “883 crore rupees of a poor state like Bihar are investing in Mata Janaki temple in Punaradham, then how will a Gujarati take credit for it.”
‘Money of the poor and its impression is being given as if the central government is doing everything. They have not given a knot. The truth is that in our 17 -month tenure, first of all we visited Punaura Dham and approved the construction in the cabinet.
