New Delhi: Two days after Rashtriya Swyamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat said the Centre should bring a law to build a Ram Mandir in Ayodhya, union law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad urged the Supreme Court to fast-track hearing in the case.
Speaking to News18, Prasad described the issue as one that is very important for the entire nation. “It must get resolved soon. Hindus not only in India, but the world over want that the case gets expedited," he said.
When asked why this issue crops up every time before elections, Prasad denied that BJP and Sangh leaders were talking about it to gain poll mileage. “It’s not an electoral issue, but about the faith of the nation. The court should hold an expeditious hearing. This is our request," he added.
Talk of the temple has grown louder in the run-up to the elections to the five states – Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Mizoram and Telangana – next month and the Lok Sabha polls in 2019.
While Bhagwat has several times in the past said in no uncertain terms that a Ram Temple will come up on the disputed Babri Masjid-Ram Janmabhoomi site very soon, his Thursday speech was the first time that he publicly made a demand to bring a law to facilitate the construction.
“Lord Ram is the symbol of India. His temple should be built through whatever means necessary. Government should frame a law and build the Ram Temple. That is our demand," Bhagwat said in his speech, adding that the case in the top court was getting delayed.
The tough posturing comes at a time when a substantial chunk of influential Hindu priests in and around Ayodhya have put the government on notice on Ram Temple issue, unhappy that the BJP government has been unable to move on it in the last four and half years.
In June this year, the chief priest of Ram Janmabhoomi Temple, Acharya Satyendra Das, gave a stern warning to the BJP, saying that if they do not build the temple and dump the issue completely, the party will not come back to power in the next year's general elections.
Earlier this month, a number of priests, including those from Tapasvi Chavni temple in Ayodhya, went on an indefinite hunger strike in Ayodhya demanding immediate construction of the grand temple.
Soon after, union minister Prakash Javadekar assured that the temple will be built at the disputed site.
In a press conference on October 15, he said, "Ram is the ethos of the nation. People want and have fought for a Ram temple for 500 years after it was destroyed. Ram temple will be built only at Ram's birthplace. It is so natural. It was Ram temple which was destroyed and all proofs are before the Supreme Court. BJP wants a magnificent temple at the site," he said.
The BJP, he added, has already said that it has to happen either through a court verdict, which it is sure will be favourable, or with an agreement between the two parties.
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