Allahabad: Vishwa Hindu Parishad today demanded that the BJP, having achieved a majority on its own in the Parliament under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, fulfill its commitment to the Ayodhya issue by facilitating the construction of a Ram temple at the disputed site.
“When the BJP was in power during 1999-2004, the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee used to cite coalition compulsions while explaining his inability to facilitate the construction of a Ram temple.
“Narendra Modi has no such compulsions. He may be having people from other parties in his government but the fact remains that BJP got a complete majority under his leadership,” VHP patriarch Ashok Singhal told reporters here.
He said that the Modi government should now exercise its powers to resolve the issue which has been inordinately delayed due to judicial intervention.
“The VHP has always held that courts cannot settle matters of faith and the government should facilitate construction of temple at the Sri Ramjanmabhoomi by getting passed an act of Parliament to this effect,” he said. Singhal's statement comes a couple of days after Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), considered to be the apex body of the ‘Sangh Parivar'” of which the VHP is a part and the BJP is the political offshoot, had expressed hope that the Centre will “take the Ram temple issue seriously”.
Although Modi has in the recent past refrained from making any statement on the Ayodhya issue, which had figured prominently in the BJP's election manifesto, a number of party leaders including former national president and Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh have gone on record to state that the party was committed to building a Ram temple at the site referred to as Sri Ramjanmabhoomi.
The former VHP president, a staunch supporter of Modi since the days when he was the Chief Minister of Gujarat whom he has been fondly referring to as “Hindu Hriday Samrat” (emperor ruling the hearts of Hindus), also appealed to the Muslim community to “come forward and cooperate with the majority community”.
“The Muslims should understand that the Hindus have no issues with them except Ayodhya, Kashi and Mathura. They would do the country a great service if they themselves renounce the wrongful claim on Hindus' places of worship in these holy cities and acknowledge the majority community's right to carry out its religious activities at these disputed sites”, the octogenarian said.
