India's culturally rich heritage is known all over the world: Ministry of External Affairs on Oli's Ayodhya remarks

India's culturally rich heritage is known all over the world, the Ministry of External Affairs said on Thursday, days after Nepalese Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli's controversial remarks on Ayodhya and Lord Ram.

Under fire for the PM's remarks, the Nepal government on Tuesday had launched a damage control act to clarify that Oli's statements were "not linked to any political subject" and had no intention at all to "hurt" anyone's feelings and sentiments.

Asked about Oli's remarks, Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said, "The deep and culturally rich heritage of our country is known all over the world."

He also noted that the Nepalese foreign ministry had issued a clarification and he did not want to comment any further on the matter.

In its statement, Nepal's foreign ministry had clarified that the remarks made by Oli were "not meant to debase the significance of Ayodhya and the cultural value it bears".

"As there have been several myths and references about Shri Ram and the places associated with him, the Prime Minister was simply highlighting the importance of further studies and research of the vast cultural geography the Ramayana represents to obtain facts about Shri Ram, Ramayana and the various places linked to this rich civilization," the ministry had said.

To a separate question on Kerala's gold smuggling case, Srivastava said India is in touch with the UAE authorities regarding the investigation in this matter.