Construction of temple at Ayodhya not exclusive domain of court: Kokje

Bhanu P Lohumi
Tribune News Service
Shimla, December 6

Construction of the Ram temple at Ayodhya is not the exclusive domain of the court as it is a matter of faith and courts are not sentimentally involved in it, VHP international president VS Kokje said here on Thursday.

“We were pinning hopes on the Supreme Court that it would decide the issue but former Chief Justice Deepak Mishra retired without giving a judgment, forcing the VHP to start a vigorous awareness campaign to build pressure on the government,” he told The Tribune on the sidelines of the Shankhnaad rally organised by the VHP at Chaura Maidan here.

Refuting the charge that the Ram temple movement was politically motivated, he said the movement had been going on since 1984 and it might be a political issue for various parties but not for them as it is a matter of faith for Hindus.  

“The political parties which are supporting the cause of the Ram temple might be eyeing Hindu votes and those opposing it might be thinking that they would get Muslim votes but the VHP is working under the guidance of saints and championing the cause of Hindus,” he said.

Kokje said ever since the movement started, the Hindus had started asserting themselves and if they asserted more, no force on earth could stop construction of the temple.

Rejecting the suggestion that “status quo” as on August 15, 1947 be maintained in respect of all religious shrines, Kokje said whatever happened before 1947 could not be ignored or forgotten and after the Ram temple, Kashi Vishwanath and Krishna temples at Mathura would also be constructed.