The Hindu : VHP scales down demand to 42 acres

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Mar 04, 2002

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VHP scales down demand to 42 acres
By Neena Vyas

NEW DELHI, MARCH 3. The Vishwa Hindu Parishad has scaled down its demand for the Government-acquired land in Ayodhya from 67 acres to 42 acres and the Government is under intense pressure from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh to accept it.

Simultaneously, the VHP announced that there would be no change in its ongoing `yagna' at Ayodhya and the plan to move some carved stone pillars to the ``shilanyas'' site in Ayodhya on March 15. It also issued an appeal to ``countrymen'' to ``maintain peace and harmony'' as ``every human life is precious for the followers of the Hindu dharma.''

The VHP has called a meeting here tomorrow of some `sants' associated with the Ram temple agitation to discuss the situation and take a decision. There are enough hints that the ``minimum'' and ``firm'' assurance the VHP and the `sants' would seek is that within three months, 42 acres of the acquired land in Ayodhya be handed to the VHP-controlled Ram Janmabhoomi Nyas to enable the commencement of Ram temple construction.

The meeting will also discuss the situation in Ayodhya where the VHP has charged the Government with placing ``hurdles'' in the way of its ongoing programme, the VHP international president, Ashok Singhal, said today. He and the senior VHP leader, Giriraj Kishore, said a meeting between the ``sants'' and the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, was also not ruled out.``If Mr. Vajpayee invites them, they could meet.''

Seven of the 10 ``sants'' who met Mr. Vajpayee on January 27 (when he agreed to refer the demand for acquired land to the Law Ministry) are expected here tomorrow. They include Ramchandra Paramhans, Avaidyanath, Chinmayanand and Nritya Gopaldas. Several rounds of hectic discussions between the Government, the VHP and the RSS leaders, on the one hand, and the lawyers on the other, produced this proposal: the VHP would agree to getting 42 acres of the acquired land, leaving a plot west of the demolished Babri Masjid in Government hands to ``ensure that a reasonable extent of land adjacent to the disputed structure is made available to the Muslim community if and when a decree is passed in their favour in the pending suits.'' The proposal was submitted to Mr. Vajpayee by Mr. Singhal on February 27 along with a map of the 67 acres of Government-acquired land in Ayodhya. A copy of the letter to Mr. Vajpayee, containing the proposal, was made available to the press here today.

The proposal admitted that only one acre of the land had been ``purchased'' by the Nyas while just over 42 acres were given to it on perpetual lease by the Uttar Pradesh Government ``for an annual nominal rent of rupee one.'' Of these over 43 acres, the VHP was agreeable to the Government retaining about an acre adjacent to the disputed site (of the demolished Babri Masjid and the makeshift Ram temple that was built on its debris).

The VHP is insisting that the Supreme Court judgment on the acquisition of land does not come in the way of the Government handing over part of the land to the VHP-controlled trust.

It is reliably learnt that in a series of discussions and meetings over the last two days between the VHP and the RSS, and the RSS and the Government, the effort has been towards ``persuading the Prime Minister'' to seriously consider the proposal, outcome of the RSS ``mediation.'' Even today, Mr. Singhal and Acharya Kishore met the RSS leaders, H.V. Seshadri and Madan Das Devi. Later, the VHP propaganda in-charge, Vireshwar Dwivedi, said the RSS was trying to get the Government ``to see our point of view.''

PTI reports from Bangalore:

The Union Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports, Uma Bharti, appealed to the VHP to postpone its plans of starting the construction of Ram temple in view of the present situation in the country.

Speaking to presspersons, she said the country was passing through a turmoil and the VHP should ``reconsider its deadline.''

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