Govt should acquire disputed Ayodhya site to build temple: VHP

BJP leader Subramanian Swamy joins VHP's Ashok Singhal in making demand barely two weeks ahead of Bihar polls

With barely two weeks to go before the Bihar Assembly elections, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) on Wednesday upped the ante over the Ram temple issue.

The VHP, which had spearheaded the Ram temple movement, asked the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government at the Centre to acquire the disputed site at Ayodhya, where the Babri mosque was torn down by Hindutva activists in 1992, to construct a grand temple.

BJP leader Subramanian Swamy joined VHP patron Ashok Singhal in making the demand. He said the BJP manifesto for the 2014 elections had promised the temple's construction and the Narendra Modi government should take steps to deliver on its promise. The VHP said it would wait for the Supreme Court's decision before launching a fresh movement for early construction of the temple.

 

"The government for a public interest purpose can issue a notice to the Babri Masjid muthwali (hereditary supervisor) for acquisition of the land and building of the Babri Masjid and offer (to Muslims) another site to build a mosque, perhaps across the Saryu river," Singhal and Swamy said in a statement. "There is no obstacle in the construction of the Ram temple.... Government should take an initiative," Swamy said.

To "spread awareness" among people about the issue, the VHP will hold a seminar in January. Swami, president of Virat Hindustan Sangam, also shared a purported affidavit submitted by the then government before the apex court in 1994 in which it had stated that if existence of a temple was established, its action will be in "support of the wishes of Hindu community".

Swami said he had already written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the issue and made several suggestions for the construction of temple. "I have not received a reply. I will take it up again after the Bihar Assembly polls," he said.

Swamy also asked party chief Amit Shah to convene a special session of National Council of BJP over the issue. A senior BJP leader, who didn't want to be quoted, said ensuring growth and providing jobs and not the Ram temple was the priority of the Narendra Modi government as of now. "The 2014 Lok Sabha elections wasn't fought on issues of Ram temple and Article 370," he said.