Swamy writes to Modi on Ram temple construction

The RSS mouthpiece "Organiser" has published a letter by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy to Prime Minster Narendra Modi in which he has suggested steps for building Ram temple in Ayodhya, with its construction beginning in 2016.

In the letter dated last month, Swamy has listed six steps that could be taken by 2016 for "rebuilding" the Ram temple at Ayodhya.

The letter, noting that the Bharatiya Janata Party has committed in its 2014 manifesto to building the temple if it is legal to do so, suggests appointing a former chief justice of India as an executor who may liaise with a designated minister.

The letter suggests offering the "Babri Masjid muthwali" an alternative site for a mosque to be built at public expense across the Saryu River in Ayodhya.

The letter also suggests calling a meeting of Islamic clerics, both Indian and foreign, to seek their endorsement and then moving the court for disposing off all pending petitions.

The letter says that if an endorsement "is not forthcoming" then the government should move an enabling bill in parliament and have it passed.

It suggests creating a "Ram Temple Re-Building" Committee on the model of Somnath temple and beginning "construction of the Ram Temple on an auspicious date in 2016".