Lord Ram was Nepali, India set up a 'fake Ayodhya', claims Nepal PM KP Oli

Even as ties between India and Nepal continue to be strained, Nepali PM KP Oli has stirred a controversy by claiming that Lord Ram was Nepali. Although Lord Rama's kingdom Ayodhya is located west of Birgunj in Nepal, India has created the disputed Ayodhya, he said. "Lord Ram's kingdom Ayodhya is located west of Birgunj in Nepal and India has created a disputed Ayodhya," said Nepal Prime Minister KP Oli on Monday. Speaking on the occasion of Bhanu Jayanti at the Prime Minister's residence, he said, "We are under the misconception that Sita married Ram of India. But Ram was not Indian but Nepali". This year Bhanu Jayanti marks 206th birth anniversary of Nepal's great poet Bhanubhakta Acharya who translated Valmiki Ramayan in Nepali. Alleging that India encroached the cultural facts of Nepal, Oli said that India has created a 'fake Ayodhya'. "Lord Ram's kingdom was not in Uttar Pradesh but in Nepal, near Balmiki Ashram", said Oli. Oli, the PM of the Hindu-majority nation claimed that Ayodhya was located in the west of Janakpur at Balmiki Ashram in a place called Thori near Birgunj in Nepal. He added that the Valmiki Ashram in Thori belonged to Panditji Ridi who performed the Putrishti Yajna for Dashratha, Lord Ram's father, to bless him with a son. "That place also belongs to Nepal," he said.