KATHMANDU: India's ruling party Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has condemned Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli's controversial claim that 'real' Ayodhya is in Nepal and therefore, Ram was from Nepal.

Read: Nepal’s PM KP Sharma Oli ‘claims’ real Ayodhya is in Nepal

In response to PM Oli's statement, BJP's national spokesperson Bizay Sonkar Shastri said, "Lord Ram is a matter of faith for us, and people will not allow anybody be it prime minister of Nepal or anyone, to play with this."

Left parties even in India played with people's faith, and the Communists in Nepal will be rejected by the masses in the same way they have been here, India's ruling party's spokesperson was quoted as saying in Times of India.

BJP's condemnation comes after PM Oli made an off-the-mark comment that India is manipulating cultural and historical facts by creating a fake Ayodhya in India, which in fact is a village west of Birgunj.

During the programme, Oli also said, “There is a huge controversy in ‘their’ Ayodhya while our Ayodhya, that lies in the Thori village, has no issues as such.”

PM Oli's controversial statement, at a time when diplomatic relations between Nepal and India are at a sensitive juncture due to the ongoing dispute over Lipulekh, Limpiyadhura and Kalapani, could further elevate tensions between the bordering countries.

Ayodhya issue is dealt with much sensitivity in India given the decades-long controversy which was recently ‘settled’ after India’s Supreme Court ruled in favour of Ram temple while ordering that alternative land be given to Muslims to build a mosque.