Raj Thackeray favours Nitin Gadkari's formula on Babri Masjid

While Shiv Sena leader Bal Thackeray disagreed with BJP president Nitin Gadkari’s idea of rebuilding the Babri Masjid on an open plot near the Ram temple in Ayodhya, his nephew and MNS president Raj Thackeray has welcomed it cautiously.

“Why was the BJP not this wise earlier?” Raj commented to reporters at Chopda in Jalgaon district on Monday. “Had they taken the same stand in the past, there would not have been riots all over the country and innocent people would not have lost their lives. [But] there is no point discussing the old matter and recalling old memories.”

Raj was in Chopda in connection with a court case regarding violence by MNS workers over the issue of migrants last year. He was granted bail on a personal bond of Rs7,000.
Last week, Gadkari had mooted the idea of rebuilding the mosque, demolished by a frenzied crowd of extremist Hindus on December 6, 1992, at the BJP’s national conclave in Indore.

“I appeal to the Muslims to cooperate in building a Ram temple at the [disputed] site in Ayodhya,” Gadkari said. “I assure [them that] we will help them build a mosque at a nearby open space.”
Thackeray had dubbed Gadkari’s idea an insult to the memory of the karsevaks who were killed in Ayodhya during the Ram Janmabhoomi movement. “Only a Ram temple will be built in Ayodhya,” he had said. “There is no need to seek the permission of Muslims for that.”

The Vishwa Hindu Parishad and the Babri Masjid Action Committee have also opposed Gadkari’s idea.

Gadkari shares a good rapport with Raj. “In my opinion, Nitin Gadkari is the right person for the chief minister’s post in Maharashtra,” Raj had said before the October 2009 assembly elections in the state.