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Put Ram temple issue on hold, PM tells Hindu outfits
By Our Special Correspondent
LUCKNOW, JAN. 3. The Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, today asked various Hindu organisations to place on the backburner all contentious issues, including the Ram temple.
Terrorism had emerged as the most important issue before the country and all other problems should be kept aside for the present, he said.
Talking to newspersons here, he clarified his reported statement that he was having negotiations to find a settlement to the Ayodhya dispute before March 12, the date when the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) has threatened to start the construction of the Ram temple. He had only hoped that a negotiated settlement of the dispute could be found by that date and never claimed that he would find a solution before March 12, the Prime Minister said.
Asked to comment on the VHP leaders' statement that they would campaign in the polls against political parties opposed to the temple construction, he said in a democracy everyone had a right to have his or her own opinion.
The VHP also had the freedom to express itself. He, however, hoped that the organisation would keep in view the political realities of the day.
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