PM announces Ram Temple trust, days before Delhi polls

Vibha Sharma
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, February 5

Taking everybody by surprise, PM Narendra Modi today announced the setting up of a trust to oversee construction of Ram Temple at Ayodhya. Prior to that he chaired a Cabinet meeting. The trust has been named ‘Shri Ram Janambhoomi Teertha Kshetra’. The Supreme Court had directed the government to form a trust within three months. The deadline was to end on February 9.

Meanwhile, as directed by the Supreme Court, the Uttar Pradesh Government announced five acres for the Sunni Wakf Board to raise a mosque. Sources said land for the mosque had been allotted to the board at Dhannipur village in Sohawal tehsil on the Lucknow highway, 18 km from the district headquarters. A decision in this regard was made at a Cabinet meeting chaired by UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath this morning.

Making a statement right at the beginning of the session, the PM said: “Today, I have come to give you information on a very important and historical issue. It is an issue close to my heart… It is related to raising a grand Ram Temple at Ayodhya”. Interestingly, not many members, including those from the treasury benches, were present in the House when the big announcement came.

Taken aback, stake-holders in the highly polarised Delhi elections read it as a move to consolidate the Hindu vote bank just before the polls on February 8. Asserting that it was incorrect to link the decision of the Union Cabinet with the upcoming Delhi Assembly polls, Union Minister Prakash Javadekar said: “The decision has nothing to do with Delhi. The whole country is not witnessing elections.” An Election Commission spokesperson too said that prior permission for the announcement was not required.

A gazette notification has been issued. The government later named members of the trust. The members include senior lawyer K Parasaran, Jagatguru Shankracharya, Jyothishpeethadheeshwar Swami Vasudevanand Saraswati Ji Maharaj from Allahabad, Jagatguru Madhavacharya Swami Vishwa Prasannatheerth Ji Maharaj, Pejawar Math in Udupi, Yugpurush Paramanand Ji Maharaj from Haridwar, Swami Govinddev Giri Ji Maharaj from Pune and Vimlendra Mohan Pratap Mishra from Ayodhya. Besides, the following will also be the trustees, Anil Mishra, a homoeopathic doctor from Ayodhya and Kameshwar Chaupal from Patna who is a Scheduled Caste member, and Mahant Dinendra Das, Nirmohi Akhara, Ayodhya Baithak.

Speaking in the Lok Sabha amid ‘Jai Shri Ram’ chants, the PM said after the temple verdict, the people of India had displayed remarkable faith in democratic processes. “Let us all support construction of a grand Ram Temple in Ayodhya. Be it Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, Buddhists, Parsis or Jains, everyone is a part of one big family and development must take place for every member of the family.”