Ayodhya: MP woman set to call off 27 year old fruit-milk fast

An 81-year-old former Sanskrit teacher in Madhya Pradesh's Jabalpur having only milk and fruits since 1992 wishing for a resolution to the Ayodhya dispute now plans to resume a regular diet, her son said.

Happy with Saturday's Supreme Court order which paved the way for a Ram Temple in Ayodhya, as well as a mosque on a 5-acre plot, Urmila Chaturvedi wants her kin to write a letter of thanks to Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, he said.

The Supreme Court on Saturday cleared the way for the construction of a Ram Temple at the disputed site at Ayodhya, and directed the Centre to allot a 5-acre plot to the Sunni Waqf Board for building a mosque.

In one of the most important and most anticipated judgements in India's history, a bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi put an end to the more than a century old dispute that has torn the social fabric of the nation.

"My mother was on a fruit and milk diet for the past 27 years. She was 54 at the time when she started this. She is very happy with the Supreme Court verdict," her son Amit Chaturvedi told PTI.

"She has asked me to write a letter of thanks to Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. My mother is an ardent devotee of Lord Ram and was waiting for a solution to the Ayodhya dispute," he added.

He said his mother, a Sanskrit teacher at private institutions, was very upset over the violence that engulfed the nation after the Babri Masjid was demolished on December 6, 1992.

The site was occupied by the 16th century Babri mosque, built by Mughal empire's founder Babur, which was destroyed by Hindu kar sevaks on December 6, 1992.

"Thereafter she resolved to observe a partial fast, limiting her diet to milk and fruits, till the Ayodhya dispute was resolved. She stood by it despite relatives requesting her several times to call it off," Amit said.

He said the family will soon organise "Udyapan", a ceremony to conclude the fast, as her wish has been fulfilled.

He added that his mother was not associated to any political or religious outfit.