In a video being widely shared, a senior police officer is seen pledging to build the Ram temple in Ayodhya, hand raised in ceremony, along with several other people in a room. "We, Ram bhakts, in this programme, pledge that a grand Ram temple will be built soonest. Jai Sri Ram," say the men present at the function, reportedly held at Lucknow University. Among them is Surya Kumar Shukla, a senior IPS or Indian Police Service Officer of the 1982 batch of the UP cadre at present posted as the state's director general of Home Guards. Mr Shukla, wearing a grey jacket, is seen in the video standing to the left of the man who administered the pledge.
