LUCKNOW: The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) central leadership proposed the day of ‘Ram Navmi’ which will fall on April 2 as the date to commence construction of Ram Temple in Ayodhya. However, the decision over the date deferred till the formation of the temple trust by the Centre following the directives of Supreme Court.
In its historic verdict delivered on November 9 last year, over Ayodhya dispute, the Supreme Court had paved the way for construction of Ram temple directing the Centre to form a trust for the purpose and allocate five-acre alternative land to UP Sunni Central Waqf Board for mosque construction.
The Central government is supposed to form the temple trust till February 9 when the three-month deadline fixed for the purpose by the Supreme Court would expire.
Besides, the VHP also put forth three more proposals at the two-day meeting convened by its Kendriya Margdarshak Mandal at Parade Ground of Magh Mela area in Parayagraj on Monday.
Around 300 Hindu saints from all over the country and senior VHP leaders including its vice president Champat Rai, working president Alok Kumar and Jeeweshwar Mishra, had assembled in Prayagraj to participate in the meeting. The proposal over the date for the commencement of temple construction in Ayodhya was put forward by VHP national general secretary Milind Parande. The proposal was discussed by the participants of the meeting threadbare. This meeting was presided over by Vasudevanand Saraswati.
The other three proposals presented in the meeting pertained to the design of the proposed temple in Ayodhya, population control and Unified Civil Code and also the support to the Centre on the issue of Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).
While presenting the proposal over the design of proposed Ram temple in Ayodhya, VHP was joined by a number of saints in batting for the model which VHP had prepared way back in 1984. VHP demanded the Central Government to base the grand Ram temple on the model proposed by it. The proposal also advocated the supervisory role for Ramjanmbhoomi Nyas under Mahant Nritya Gopal Das in temple construction.
At the meeting, the mahants and seers deliberated upon issues like restoring values of Hindu religion, ban on cow slaughter, ridding river Ganga of pollution, etc. The Kendriya Margdarshak Mandal meeting in Prayagraj would be the first one after the Supreme Court verdict.
Ram Janmabhoomi Nyas head Mahant Nritya Gopal Das, Peethadeeshwar of Juna Akhada Mahamandaleshwar Swami Avadheshanand Giri, Akhil Bharatiya Sant Samiti chief Avichal Das Maharaj, Swami Vasudevanand Saraswati and Govinddev Giri participated in the meeting.