Arrival of stone for temple construction has got tongue wagging again

Ayodhya: The arrival of two truck-load of stones from Bharatpur in Rajasthan here has brought the Ram Mandir issue to the fore once again. It is being talked about at different nooks and corners of this holy town.

The announcement by some Vishwa Hindu Parishad leaders that more stones will be unloaded in weeks to come and that 100 truck-load of stones are needed for the construction of the temple has added grist to the propaganda mill of the temple supporters.

It has caused anxiety among the Muslims living here. However, a senior member of the community and a party to the Babri Masjid title suit Khaliq Ahmad Khan has reassured them that status-quo will be maintained till the court decides the case.

The trucks arrived on Monday due to permission given by the commercial tax department. According to VHP leader T N Pandey , the order was placed much earlier but the consignment was not arriving because form 39 was not being issued in view of the order of the then Samajwadi Party government in the state.

Recently, he said on Wednesday, the department was approached and requested to issue this form to facilitate fresh arrival of stones which was heeded.

A workshop for carving stones has been set up a long time ago and it has never stopped working since then. Some VHP leader or the other has also often talked of start of construction. The new deadline given is one year from now.

Informed sources call all this a propaganda material to please the Hindu enthusiasts. The matter is sub-judice as a case is pending in the Supreme Court and it has refused to hear it on a priority basis. So, it will be in a limbo for a long time to come.

Leaders of Hindu organisations have been demanding adoption of a new law for the construction purpose but the Modi government has given no hint of obliging them.

The alternative suggested by the apex court was that the warring factions should sit together and work out a compromise formula to end the dispute. But none came forward and the issue is where it was 25 years ago when the temple-mosque structure was demolished by Kar Sevaks who had assembled from different parts of the country.