VHP mounts pressure on government on Ram temple, seeks legislation

New Delhi: Mounting pressure on the BJP-led Centre, the VHP on Friday demanded immediate passage of a legislation in Parliament for construction of a grand Ram temple in Ayodhya, saying it cannot wait indefinitely for the judicial verdict.

The demand was made at a day-long meeting of 'sants' which discussed the issue in the wake of the Supreme Court decision to begin hearings on the original title suit later this month and the strategy to be adopted for hastening the process of temple construction.

"A delegation of sants met President Ram Nath Kovind today and apprised him of the feelings of millions of Ram devotees, sadhu-sant and dharmacharyas and urged him to make a law for a grand Ram temple at Ram Janmabhoomi soon," said a resolution passed by a committee of the sants.

It was decided to hold a "dharma sansad" (religious parliament) in Allahabad on February 1 during the Maha Kumbh.

In the meeting, Swami Vasudevanand, one of the campaigners for the temple, urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to convene a joint session of Parliament to pass the legislation.

"We urged the President in a memorandum that he write to the Central government asking it to bring legislation for the construction of Ram Mandir in Ayodhya," one of the sants told a press conference after meeting the President in the presence of Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) Working President Alok Kumar.

Kumar said the hearings on the appeal in the Supreme Court were no obstacle in the passage of the legislation.

He said if the government wanted to bring a legislation, then it could do so in the coming winter session.

"Earlier we thought that it would have been better to wait; and we waited for long. The Supreme Court bench that was headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra did not give any verdict till September. He retired in October," he said.

He said Congress posters claimed its party President Rahul Gandhi as 'Ram bhakt'. "It would be good if he also backs our demand".

In its resolution, it was decided that during October, representatives of social and religious institutions and organisations of all states of the country would meet respective Governors in the states and apprise them of the feelings of the Ram devotees, urging them to convey their feelings to the Centre to pave the way for construction of the temple by making a law.

In November there will be public meetings in each and every parliamentary constituency and delegations of sants will meet their MPs and urge them to make a law in Parliament.

"A week from the Gita Jayanti, on which day the Babri structure was demolished, programmes will be held at all places of worship for Ram temple construction," the resolution said.