LUCKNOW: The Uttar Pradesh Shia Central Waqf Board on Wednesday said that had the 5 acres of land allotted for the Sunni Central Waqf Board been given to them, they would have constructed a Ram temple in Ayodhya.
Earlier, the state government allotted 5 acres of land in Ayodhya district to the Sunni Central Waqf Board as directed by the Supreme Court.
State government spokesperson Shrikant Sharma said that the land is in Dhannipur village in Sohawal tehsil in Ayodhya on the Lucknow highway, about 18 kilometres from the district headquarters. "Had the Shia Waqf board got the land, it would have constructed another Ram temple there," chairman of UP Shia Central Waqf Board Wasim Rizvi said here.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah announced that the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teertha Kshetra, set up by the government for construction of a temple in Ayodhya, will have 15 trustees and one of them will be from the Dalit community.
The home minister's statement came a little over an hour after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced in Lok Sabha about the constitution of the trust.
Rizvi stated that the government has fulfilled its responsibility and the Hindu community will get a Ram temple in Ayodhya. "Meer Baqi, who was a Shia, had constructed the structure (mosque) but the land went to the Sunnis. It is the fault of Shias who had never raised their voice," he claimed. Baqi was a commander during the first Mughal emperor Babur's reign.
The Babri Masjid was demolished at the site on December 6, 1992. "When we raised our voice in the Supreme Court, there was a 71 year delay due to which five acres land, which should have been given to Shias went to the Sunnis," he said and hailed the Narendra Modi government for paving the way for construction of a Ram temple in Ayodhya.
While delivering the judgement on November 9, the apex court had said the trust should be formed within three months for the construction of the temple at the site.