The Hindu : 125 MPs will press for law on temple: Giriraj Kishore

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, May 31, 2003

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125 MPs will press for law on temple: Giriraj Kishore

By Our Special Correspondent

AHMEDABAD MAY 30. Some 125 members of Parliament have promised the Vishwa Hindu Parishad that they will press the Government to enact a law before the next year's Lok Sabha elections for the construction of the Ram Janmabhoomi temple in Ayodhya, the VHP vice-president, Acharya Giriraj Kishore, claimed here today.

Talking to mediapersons during his visit to Gujarat, he hinted that the VHP was no longer prepared for a solution to the impasse through court. He said though the result of the digging of the disputed area under the court order was "increasingly coming in favour of Hindus"; Hindus had lost patience to wait any longer.

He said even a decision of the Allahabad High Court could take three more years, after which the doors of the Supreme Court would also remain open. "The Hindus have been waiting for the construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya for the last 42 years, how long can they wait for a solution through the courts?" he asked.

He said that if a law could be enacted on the basis of the Shahbano case, so could be for the construction of the Ram temple. The 125 MPs who had signed the VHP resolution favouring the Ram temple had also promised to press the Government for enactment of the law, he said.

Clearly hinting that the BJP would fallout of the VHP favour in the next elections if the present House failed to enact the law, he said in such a situation "we will change the Parliament." He said he was confident that the construction of the Ayodhya temple would start in the next two to three years "under any circumstances".

The Acharya Kishore reiterated the VHP's objections to the BJP president, Venkaiah Naidu's proposal for the construction of a mosque along side the Ram temple and said there were "plenty of mosques" in Ayodhya for Muslims and another one was not required. Several of the mosques were not even being used for offering "namaz" (prayers) because there were so many. If Muslims want they could construct a mosque some 12 km away where the descendants of the "Kotwal of the Babri mosque" still lived, but no mosque could be allowed within the "panchkoshi" of the Ram temple, which would remain a constant source of friction between the two communities.

The VHP, he said, had also decided that no more "Dharam Sansad" would be convened to consider the Ram temple issue and would implement in stages the decisions taken by the last "Dharam Sansad" held in Delhi. As part of it, crores of "sankalpa sutras" would be despatched after a ceremony in Ayodhya on June 9 and 10 to all over the country for the people to take a fresh oath to support the construction of the Ram temple. A countrywide signature campaign would also be launched in favour of temple construction and the names of those refusing to sign it would be publicly declared at the local levels.

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