New Delhi: At the end of two-day deliberations focused on the demand for building a Ram temple in Ayodhya, the Akhil Bhartiya Sant Samiti on Sunday said that the government should bring in a legislation or an ordinance to ensure the temple is built.
The two-day conclave of the Samiti, which saw the participation of over Hindu 3,000 seers from across the country, also discussed a central legislation for cow protection and cleaning of the Ganga river, and made its support for the Bharatiya Janata Party clear.
“We direct the government to either bring in a law or an ordinance (for the construction of the Ram temple). There will be no compromise on this,” Ramanandacharya Hansdevacharya, the patron of the organisation, said in his concluding remarks on Sunday. Hansdevacharya also said it was necessary to bring together Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains and people of other sects together as ‘Hindus’.
He also announced that the Samiti would hold religious conclaves in Ayodhya, Nagpur and Bengaluru on November 25, to be followed by one in Delhi on December 9.
Former BJP MP and working president of the Ram Janmabhoomi Nyas Ram Vilas Vedanti, however, did not favour enacting a law or promulgating an ordinance to facilitate the Ram temple construction, saying this would lead to communal riots.
“The matter should be sorted out through mutual consensus as the court will not be able to give any decision on the issue for the next ten lakh years,” he said.
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The Sangh parivar‘s demand for a law for the construction of a Ram temple has been growing louder after the Supreme Court last month said an “appropriate bench” would decide in the first week of January the schedule for hearing of the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid land dispute case.
RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat had on Monday pressed for the construction of the temple, saying it would lead to an atmosphere of “goodwill and harmony” in the country.
Over the last few weeks, a number of both RSS and BJP leaders, including ministers, have raised the demand for an ordinance on the Ram temple, since the apex court rebuffed its demand for a fast-tracked decision on the Ayodhya title suit.
Support for the BJP
The Samiti batted for the re-election of the BJP in the general elections next year.
“We are very hurt that there has been no resolution to the Ram Mandir issue, but we are satisfied with the Central government’s work for the country, religion, culture and national security,” said the Akhil Bhartiya Sant Samiti in its list of “directives” to the government.
Reading from the sants’ “dharmadesh” Hansdevacharya said, according to Indian Express, “Agar jeevit rehna hai, math-mandir bachana hai, behen-beti bachani hai, sanskriti aur sanskar bachana hai to iss sarkar ko dobara se laana hai (If we have to protect our lives, temples and maths, daughters and sisters, culture and tradition, then this government must be brought back).”
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Justifying the rechristening of Allahabad as Prayagraj, the Sant Samiti also demanded changing of the name of Delhi to Indraprastha.
It also sought early completion of the National Register of Citizens process in Assam and said the Centre should assert diplomatic pressure on Bangladesh to take back their ‘undocumented’ migrants to India. Citizens were also told to identify Rohingya refugees and inform the security agencies about them.
The Samiti also demanded a Uniform Civil Code and a ‘National Population Policy’ to control the “imbalance” in the population.
Speaking on the Sabarimala issue, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, the head of ‘Art of Living’, said he was confident that the Supreme Court would look into public sentiments and rethink its decision. In a landmark decision last month, the apex court had allowed entry of women into the Kerala shrine, a move that has led to violent protests from a section of Ayappa devotees in the state.
(With PTI inputs)