Five years after Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation for the Ram temple in Ayodhya, home minister Amit Shah on Friday did the same for a Sita temple being redeveloped in poll-bound Bihar.

Soon after laying the foundation of the Mother Sita temple in Bihar’s Sitamarhi, Shah accused the Opposition of favouring the enrollment of “infiltrators” as voters in India.

Like Modi in Ayodhya in August 2020, Shah sat with priests and led the “bhumi pujan” rituals for the ambitious redevelopment of the Sita temple funded by the Bihar government, while chief minister Nitish Kumar sat behind him in a chair and watched.

Punaura Dham in Sitamarhi district is believed to be the birthplace of Sita, and the Nitish government plans to develop the place on the lines of the grand Ram temple in Ayodhya at a cost of ₹880 crore spread over 67 acres.

Nitish had announced the project in September 2023, when he shared power with the RJD in the Mahagathbandhan. In January 2024, Nitish went back to the NDA.

On Friday, as Shah laid the foundation of the temple, the BJP appeared to take ownership of the religious and cultural project, seeking to play the Hindutva card in the state where elections will be held later this year.

Later, Shah addressed a rally at the site and said the development of the temple would change the destiny of Bihar, stressing the importance of Maa Sita in Indian culture as an “ideal wife, daughter, mother and raaj-mata”.

He credited Modi with sanctioning several development projects for Bihar and said it was a result of his blessings that the state would now get a grand “Maa Janaki” temple.

Shah slammed the Opposition RJD-Congress for opposing the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls being carried out by the Election Commission. He also tore into the BJP’s rivals for opposing Operation Sindoor.

Shah accused “Lalu and company” of trying to save Bangladeshi “ghuspaithiyas (infiltrators)” who have enrolled as voters in Bihar and asserted that the people of the state would not tolerate this. The home minister repeatedly asked the crowd if it would allow infiltrators to vote in Bihar and backed the SIR.

“Elections are scheduled in Bihar. The SIR is being done. I want to ask you, should infiltrators be allowed to vote here? Should the EC not carry on with the SIR?” Shah asked.