LUCKNOW: At a time when the voices for construction of Ram temple in Ayodhya through an ordinance are getting shriller following the Supreme Court's order to defer the issue by another three months till January next year, former Bharatiya Janata Party MP and senior Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader Ram Vilas Vedanti has created a flutter by claiming on Saturday that Ram temple construction would commence next month in Ayodhya by "mutual consensus" and not by any ordinance or legislation. Vedanti said that he would start construction of temple in December while the mosque could be built in state capital Lucknow in the name of Allah.
Vedanti was expressing his views on the issue on the second day of the two-day 'Dharmadesh' organised by Akhil Bharatiya Sant Samiti in New Delhi. The idea behind this meeting was to mount pressure on the Centre to bring an ordinance or an executive order to facilitate construction of Ram Temple in Ayodhya.
Empathising with the BJP leadership, Vedanti said that though PM Narendra Modi, BJP chief Amit Shah, party ministers, MPs and MLAs, all wanted the temple in Ayodhya but if legislation would be brought over the issue, the country would be pushed into a worst ever communal catastrophe which "no one will be able to stop."
The VHP leader, also an accused in the case over abatement of demolition of Babri masjid, added that no one wanted violence. "We do not want violence. We want peace," he maintained. Significantly, Vedanti's statement has come a day after UP BJP chief Mahendra Nath Pandey claimed that CM Yogi had a mega plan for Ayodhya and it would be revealed by the CM himself around Diwali.
Meanwhile, pitching in for the temple, Union Home Minister Rajanth Singh said in Varanasi on Saturday that everyone would be happy if temple was constructed at Ram Janmabhoomi in Ayodhya. On the other, Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya also observed on Saturday in Lucknow that the title issue of the disputed land in Ayodhya may be sub-judice and the hands of the authorities were tied but "no one can stop us from installing a grand statue of 'Ram Lalla' in the temple town."
He added that no one could stop the government from developing Ayodhya.Maurya was referring to a prestigious project pertaining to installation of a 151-metre tall statue of Lord Ram in Ayodhya. The official announcement regarding the proposed project is likely to be made by UP CM Yogi Adityanath during the three-day Diwali extravaganza Deepostsav-planned by the UP government in the temple town from November 4 to 6.
Notably, earlier this week, the Supreme Court had fixed the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid land dispute case for the first week of January 2019 before an appropriate bench, which would decide the schedule of hearing.
As many as 14 appeals have been filed against the high court judgment, delivered in four civil suits, that the 2.77 acres of land be trifurcated equally among the Sunni Waqf Board, the Nirmohi Akhara and Ram Lalla.
Reacting to the apex court's October 29 order, UP CM Yogi Adityanath had expressed his dismay by saying that the sentiments of the majority community should be respected while proceeding in the case. He had even claimed that if justice was delayed, it amounted to injustice. "The Hindus have been disappointed as they had pinned all their hopes on Supreme Court which deferred the vexed issue by another three months," the CM had said. Yogi also favoured a solution through consensus to the vexed issue as the best option.
"Otherwise other options are also there," he had stated. Following the SC's October 29 order the VHP and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) leaders had started mounting pressure on the Centre for an ordinance to acquire land for the temple in Ayodhya.
The RSS has already made its opinion over the Supreme Court's latest stand public when one of its ideologue Bhaiyyaji Joshi said Hindus were feeling -"insulted-" by the Supreme Court's declaration that it had priorities other than the Ayodhya issue.
"We respect the Supreme Court and urge it to take into consideration sentiments of Hindus,-" Joshi had said. The RSS leaders have also observed in the last couple of days that they will not hesitate to launch an agitation similar to 1992 for Ram temple at Ayodhya if required. According to highly placed sources, the Sunni Waqf board is also planning to have an important meeting in Delhi to decide its strategy in the case.
The Babri Masjid, built by Mughal emperor Babur in Ayodhya in 1528, was, on December 6, 1992, razed to the ground allegedly by Hindu activists, claiming that the mosque was constructed after demolishing a Ram temple that originally stood there.