Ayodhya Ram temple divides Hindu leaders

The jury is still out on who will ultimately get the disputed land in Ayodhya and how much — Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind, Sunni Waqf Board and Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha have moved the Supreme Court challenging the Allahabad high court (HC) judgment dividing the 2.77 acres among Hindus, Muslims and Nirmohi Akhara, and only Ram knows when we will have a final solution — but Hindu religious leaders and organisations have already begun fighting over who will build a temple at the site.

Shankaracharya of Dwarka-Sharadapeeth Swaroopanand Saraswati asserted on Thursday that Ramalay Nyas, a trust formed in 1992 by shankaracharyas of the four main seats, would build a grand Ram temple in Ayodhya.

He virtually rejected the claims of all other stakeholders, including Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), which has been at the forefront of the Ram Janmabhoomi movement.

“We will ask the central government to give us custody of the disputed land, so that we can construct a grand temple there,” Swaroopanand Saraswati, who is head of two peeths in the north and the west and founder of Ram Janmabhoomi Punaroddhar Samiti, said. The samiti was an intervener in the Ayodhya litigation.

That the shankaracharya chose to make the statement in RSS headquarters Nagpur assumes significance since Sangh Parivar, which has rejected the HC judgment, is gearing up for a nationwide campaign on Ayodhya.

While holding that it was the birthplace of Ram, HC divided the disputed land in three equal parts: The area under the central dome — Ram Lalla Virajman — would go to the parties representing Ram Lalla, while the remaining area would be divided among Sunni Waqf Board and Nirmohi Akhara.

Like Sangh Parivar, Swaroopanand believes this poses a hurdle in temple construction.

The mosque, he said, should be built at a distance from the temple to avoid future disputes.

Asked if Ramalay Nyas would hold discussions with VHP and other Hindu stakeholders, the shankaracharya said, “What is there for discussion now?”

“We do not want to have a temple of Ram as a human being, but Ram as an almighty,” he said, virtually rejecting any initiative by Sangh Parivar in the construction of a Ram temple.

“There is no point in talking to anyone else,” the shankaracharya said, adding that Ramalay Nyas and the congregation of saints under various akharas would construct the temple with the people contributing money.

VHP committed a blunder by demolishing the disputed structure in Ayodhya, he said. “It created an impression that there existed a Babri Masjid and that it was demolished by VHP, whereas there existed no such mosque there in any period in history,” the shankaracharya said.