Build consensus for Ram temple: Murli Manohar Joshi

Indicted by the Liberhan Commission on Ayodhya demolition, senior BJP leader and local MP Murli Manohar Joshi today said a consensus should be built on construction of Ram temple at Ayodhya.

"It is the ripe time that people of all the religions, classes, parties, regions and sects come together and create a consensus on the issue of building a grand Ram temple at the birth place of lord Ram in Ayodhya," Joshi demanded here in a press conference.

He said, "it is the duty of the government and all concerned to build a consensus on the issue immediately so that the construction of Ram temple is facilitated."

Joshi however refused to comment on whether the day of demolition of Babri Mosque at Ayodhya was a "day of victory for Hindus", as commented by the VHP leaders and others but asserted that "It was neither a black day". He rejected the proposition of building a temple and a mosque together at the disputed site as, "it may create a permanent problem as the system of worship in Hinduism and Islam is entirely different".

On why Ram temple was kept out of the BJP's agenda during the NDA rule at the Centre, Joshi said, "BJP has always kept the Ram temple at Ayodhya as one of its central agendas. "We never left this agenda as it is the question of our identity.

"I have no doubt whatsoever that a grand Ram temple shall be built at the birth place of lord Ram," Joshi said. He said now many Muslim leaders have also "changed" their mentality and they have started opposing 'fatwas' like the one about singing 'Vande Mataram'.

"So, it can not be ruled out that the Muslim fraternity will come out in support of the construction of the Ram temple," he added. Rejecting the Liberhan commission report on Ayodhya demolition, Joshi said, "the seriousness of the report could be assessed only on the fact that it has also indicted the former Prime Minister Guljari Lal Nanda and the saint Devrahva Baba".

He said the Liberhan commission has studied the Ram temple problem taking 1947 as the base year while the dispute is going on for several centuries.

Talking about the indictment of former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, he said, "it is known to all that Vajpayee was with the saint's resolution to built a Ram temple at the disputed site".

However, it is also a fact that Vajpayee was not present at Ayodhya on the day of demolition of the disputed structure, he said.