Amidst heightened tensions regarding the contentious Ram Mandir issue, Shankaracharya of Dwarka Peeth, Swami Swaroopanand today declared that the construction of the temple will begin from February 21. He assured that around 500 saints/sadhus would reach Ayodhya with the foundation laying stones and make sure that it’s laid on that day.
Speaking after the Param Dharam Sansad at Prayagraj on the sidelines of the ongoing Kumbh, Swami Swaroopanand said that the sadhus would leave from Prayagrag and proceed to Ayodhya after ‘Basant Panchami’ and that they are ready to take bullets if stopped from going ahead with the construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya.
Swami Swaroopanand’s declaration came in soon after the BJP government had filed a petition with the Supreme Court to allow it to return the ‘non-disputed’ surplus land acquired around the disputed structure in Ayodhya to Ram Janmabhoomi Nyas and other original owners.
Uttar Pradesh Cheif Minister Yogi Adityanath had reiterated last week that people’s patience on the issue of the construction of Ram temple was ‘fast running out’.
Yogi Adityanath, while talking on IndiaTV’s show, Aap Ki Adalat had said that if the Supreme Court was unable to give an early verdict on the dispute, it should ‘hand it over to us’ and it will be resolved within 24 hours.
“I will still appeal to the court to dispose of the dispute soon. On September 30, 2010, the Allahabad High Court division bench gave its verdict, not on the issue of division of land but upheld the view that the Babri structure was built by demolishing a Hindu temple or memorial. The Archaeological Survey of India, on the High Court’s orders, carried out excavations and in its report admitted that the Babri structure was built by demolishing a Hindu temple or a memorial,” he said.
“By adding the title dispute unnecessarily, the Ayodhya dispute is being prolonged. We appeal to the Supreme Court to give us justice at the earliest, to the satisfaction of millions of people, so that it can become a symbol of people’s faith. But if there is an unnecessary delay, institutions may lose people’s trust,” Yogi Adityanath added.
Yesterday, union Law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad had also expressed displeasure over the delay in the hearing of the case in the Supreme Court.
