After PM Modi Tweets He's 'Appalled', Temple for Him Pulled Down

Hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted his extreme displeasure over a temple dedicated to him, the structure has been demolished by officials in Rajkot in his home state of Gujarat.

A group of about 300 admirers of Mr Modi had spent seven lakhs on building the temple in a village about 200 kilometres from Ahmedabad.

The temple was meant to open on Sunday for the public. Two lakhs were spent on an idol of the PM.

"I was appalled. This is shocking and against India's great traditions," PM Modi said, urging supporters instead to focus their energies on his flagship campaign to clean up India.

 

Building such Temples is not what our culture teaches us. Personally, it made me very sad. Would urge those doing it not to do it.

Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) February 12, 2015

The temple housed a statue of PM Modi, dressed in his trademark collarless jacket and a saffron sash. It was covered with tarpaulin a short while after the PM's tweet.

"We had built the temple to express our love and faith in Modiji," project organiser Ramesh Udhad said earlier today. But after the PM's tweet, hasty changes were made by the organisers and they decided to rededicate the temple to "Mother India".

The land for the temple was given to the trust about five years ago, and the decision to dedicate it to the PM was taken about 12 months ago, said sources.

Last year, supporters opened a temple to Congress leader Sonia Gandhi in Andhra Pradesh.

Meanwhile, today, Azam Khan, a senior minister in the Uttar Pradesh government, said he would like a temple to be built for his boss, Mulayam Singh Yadav, who is the head of the Samajwadi Party.