Framing law for Ram temple construction will be unconstitutional, against secularism: AIMPLB

The All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) on Monday countered the right-wing organisations' pressing demand for early construction of Ram temple in Ayodhya, asserting that framing law for Ram temple construction will be totally unconstitutional and against secularism.

Speaking to ANI, AIMPLB member and convener of Babri Masjid Action Committee Zafaryab Jilani said that the court never gives a verdict based on sentiments of one party and added that no one should be allowed to influence the court.

"The Supreme Court has to function in its own manner. The court does not give a verdict on the basis of sentiments of only one party. The court gives its verdict as per evidence and law after the hearing. The court cannot be influenced by the RSS or anybody. So far as the lawmaking is concerned, the government can frame a law. But whether the law is constitutional or unconstitutional it has to be tested by the Supreme Court. We have already said that if any such law is framed for the construction of Ram Janambhoomi temple, it will be totally unconstitutional and against the basic structure of the Constitution and against the secularism," Jilani emphasised.

He also highlighted that different voices are coming from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on the issue.

BJP leader Subramanian Swamy, on the one hand, on Monday told ANI: "We are not like any other party. We are a party meant for Hindu renaissance, a Hindu inculcation. Ram temple is a constitutional principle because faith says that Lord Ram was born there and you are entitled to a temple there, and it has now been proved that there was a temple before. The government should explain to the people that what they had promised in 2014 and is delivered, the government should clarify."

Expressing similar sentiments, BJP president Amit Shah on November 26 at a roadshow ahead of the just-completed Madhya Pradesh elections told ANI: "We believe that a grand Ram temple should be constructed at the place of his (Lord Ram) birth in Ayodhya only."

On the other hand, Minister of State for Communications and Railways Manoj Sinha on November 9, however, said that Ram temple would come up in Ayodhya only after the Supreme Court gives its decision in the matter. Speaking at a programme 'Ghazipur Samagam', he said: "Most people in the country want the Ram temple to come up in Ayodhya but the BJP wants it to be built with consensus or after the decision of the court -- in the spirit of the BJP's manifesto."

The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) which has been organising programmes across the country to press for its demand and mount pressure on the Centre for early construction of the temple, held a rally at the historic Ramlila Maidan in the national capital. It demanded that the government should introduce a Bill for the temple construction in the Winter Session of Parliament starting tomorrow.

The construction of Ram Temple has been one of the major promises made by the ruling BJP in 2014. However, the Ayodhya case is sub-judice and is pending in the Supreme Court which is expected to decide the date for the hearing in the matter in January 2019.

The Babri Masjid, built by Mughal emperor Babur in 1578 in Ayodhya, was on December 6, 1992, pulled down allegedly by a group of Hindu activists, claiming that the mosque was constructed after demolishing a Ram Temple.