Important and essential to build Ram temple at Ayodhya: BJP leaders

A number of senior BJP leaders made it clear Friday that building Ram temple at the disputed site in Ayodhya is the only way out of the impasse, soon after the Supreme Court ordered a time-bound mediation to resolve the long-pending issue.

Union minister Uma Bharti said one has to respect the Supreme Court order but asserted that she stands for building the Ram temple at the disputed site in Ayodhya and a mosque can be built only outside its vicinity.

BJP general secretary P Muralidhar Rao said that keeping the dispute pending for long is not in anyone's interest.

"It is important to resolve the issue but it is more important and essential to build a grand temple at Sri Ram Janmbhoomi. This cannot be kept pending for a long time," he said.

BJP MP Subramanian Swamy also stressed that the construction of Ram temple is non-negotiable. "There is no question of not building a temple where we believe Lord Ram was born," he added.

The party has been insisting that it stands for building a grand temple at the earliest at the site, where Hindus believe Lord Ram was born.

Union minister Giriraj Singh, known for his hardline stand on Hindutva issues, said he had no comments to offer on the court order, but asked Muslims "not to be obstinate" as he pitched for building the Ram temple.

"Can there be anything other than a mosque in Mecca and Madina?... Do Hindus have not even this much right after partition that we can offer prayers to Lord Ram in Ayodhya?" he asked.

The Supreme Court on Friday referred the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid land dispute case for mediation by a panel headed by retired apex court judge F M I Kalifulla to explore the possibility of an amicable settlement and gave it eight weeks to complete its proceedings. The other members of the panel are spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravishankar and senior advocate Sriram Panchu.

In a statement, Swamy, who is a petitioner in the case, said the court's decision is welcome but claimed that the mediation panel will have to "map the problem within the parameters so far set by the apex court starting from its 1994 constitutional bench judgment and ending with the a three-judge verdict of Sept 27, 2018".

The parameters include that worshipping in a temple, built on the faith that it is the birth place of Lord Ram, is a fundamental right under the Constitution, he said, adding that such a temple cannot be shifted.

"A claim by a suit to the title of the property is just an ordinary right and is superseded by a fundamental right. Hence the Hindus' right to re-building the demolished temple is guaranteed by the Constitution," he claimed.

Swamy also contended that a mosque "is not an essential part" of Islamic theology and hence it can be shifted by government.