Centre fooling people over Ram temple: Swami Swaroopanand

A prominent Hindu seer Tuesday accused the Centre of fooling people over the construction of Ram temple in Ayodhya, saying it has decided to build it at a place other than where deity was born.

"The Centre has filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court saying it will return 67 acres of acquired land around the disputed site in Ayodhya to the original owners.

"It has, in fact, made up its mind about building a Ram temple in Ayodhya at a spot other than the one where the deity was actually born," Shankaracharya Swami Swaroopanand Saraswati told reporters here.

"All its claims about making a grand temple in Ayodhya is just eyewash meant to fool people," he said.

On Trinamool Congress chiefMamata Banerjee's angry reactions to the chants of "Jai Shri Ram" in West Bengal, Swaroopanand said it should not be interpreted as her opposition to Ram.

"She is not opposing Ram, she is opposing the BJP. She is doing it purely out of political reasons," the Dwarka Peeth Shankaracharya said.

On Jammu and Kashmir, the seer said, "If article 370 is abolished and the Kashmiri pandits who were driven out of the state are resettled there, peace would definitely return to the state. I am optimistic and whoever does this will get our total support. We have no grudge against anyone."