National
Temple issue: VHP rejects PM's appeal
By Our Staff Reporter
NEW DELHI, JAN. 16. Asserting that there was no question of reconsidering the Government's plea to put the contentious issue of Ram temple construction at Ayodhya on the backburner, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) today said prominent saints and VHP leaders from all over the country would converge on Delhi on January 26 for over a week to chalk out programmes for the temple construction.
Addressing a press conference here, the VHP's senior vice-president, Giriraj Kishore, said they would not pay heed to the appeals by the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, and the Bharatiya Janata Party president, K. Jana Krishnamurthy, not to raise contentious issues at this crucial juncture. ``If there is a war-like situation, then first cancel the forthcoming Assembly polls and other important government engagements, then only can we consider postponing our Ram temple construction programme,'' he added.
Cautioning the Government against blindly trusting the Pakistan President, Pervez Musharraf, Mr. Kishore demanded that an ultimatum be served on Pakistan to hand over the 20 terrorists wanted by India, failing which Pakistan should be declared an ``enemy state'' and all necessary action taken against it.
Welcoming Gen. Musharraf's statement on the misuse of ``madrasas'' and mosques in Pakistan, the VHP leader said the Government should also act on the same lines and close all such institutions that were encouraging terrorism.
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