The Jharkhand BJP has urged the Hemant Soren-led government to declare January 22 as a state holiday for the consecration ceremony of the Ram temple in Ayodhya.

In a letter to the chief minister on Thursday, the leader of the opposition in Jharkhand assembly and senior BJP leader Amar Kumar Bauri requested Soren to honour Lord Ram by declaring January 22 as a state holiday.

Bauri said, "January 22 will be a golden moment in the history of India, when the entire country and the world will witness the consecration of Ram temple. Lord Ram is revered not only in India but throughout the world." Earlier, on January 12, the saffron party had requested the Jharkhand government to declare January 22 as a "dry day".

In a letter to the CM, BJP Rajya Sabha MP Deepak Prakash had called for a ban on the sale of liquor and meat on that day.

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