BJP chief Amit Shah said on Saturday that a “grand” Ram temple in Ayodhya should be built “immediately” and “without any delay”, ahead of a congregation of restive seers in Delhi on Sunday and the counting of votes in five states on Tuesday.
Shah acknowledged that the results of the Assembly elections would have a bearing on the Centre and the general election next year but expressed confidence that the BJP would retain Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh with a comfortable majority and improve its position in Telangana and Mizoram.
Shah skipped any mention of the Ayodhya land dispute pending before the Supreme Court and asserted that a Ram temple should be built “immediately”.
“Wahan pe bhavya Ram mandir immediately, turant aur bina kisi deri ke bannna chahiye (There, a grand Ram temple should be built immediately and without any delay),” the BJP chief said in response to a question during an event organised by the Dainik Jagran media group in Delhi. Shah iterated the assertion twice.
Asked if development or the Ram temple and other such emotive issues would be the poll plank of the BJP in 2019, Shah said the BJP was ready to contest the Lok Sabha elections on any of the two.
The BJP chief referred to the promise made in the party’s manifesto that a grand Ram temple should be built at the disputed site and stressed there was no question of going back on it.
He accused the Congress of trying to create hurdles in the path of a temple and said Kapil Sibal had petitioned the Supreme Court to postpone the hearing of the Ayodhya title suit till the 2019 polls were over.
“This is the oldest case. Why does the Congress want to delay it? Our counsel have told the court that they want a decision in the case without any delay,” Shah said.
The assertion came ahead of a religious congregation, “dharm sabha”, of Hindu seers on Sunday at Delhi’s Ramlila grounds. The seers had earlier held similar meets in Ayodhya and other cities to demand that the government pass a law or bring in an ordinance to pave the way for the construction of a Ram temple.
Asked whether the government would push for a law in Parliament or adopt the ordinance route, Shah said: “The issue has to be decided in a party forum.”
