NEW DELHI: Days after inaugurating the grand Ram Mandir in Ayodhya, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday lauded late former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Kalyan Singh for the crucial role he played during the Ram Janmabhoomi movement.
Addressing a rally in Bulandshahr, PM Modi said that the region gave us Kalyan Singh, who dedicated his life to “Ram Kaaj and Rashtra Kaaj”.
PM Modi is inaugurating a medical college named after Kalyan Singh along with development projects worth over Rs 15,000 crore in Bulandshahr — which was the ‘karmbhoomi’ of the saffron stalwart.
Kalyan Singh, who was the chief minister of UP when Babri Masjid was demolished, represented Bulandshahr in Lok Sabha.
During the rally, the Prime Minister also said that after the Pran Pratishtha in Ayodhay, it is time to take “rashtra pratishtha to new heights”.
Singh had played a significant role in the Ram Temple movement.
Kalyan quit the BJP in 1999 to form Rashtriya Kranti Party (RKP) after the party replaced him as CM. He subsequently contested the 2002 UP assembly elections from Atrauli on RKP ticket and won.
He returned to the saffron fold in 2004 and successfully contested LS polls from Bulandshahr. But in 2009, Kalyan again resigned from the party membership and the post of national vice-president citing “neglect and humiliation”.
He eventually decided to campaign for Samajwadi Party — though he contested as an independent from Etah and even won.
In 2014, when Narendra Modi became the PM, Kalyan Singh again returned to BJP and was appointed Rajasthan governor.