Saints to sit on fast for Ram temple

Lucknow: To mount pressure on the Modi government to start the process for construction of Ram temple in Ayodhya, a group of saints have decided to undertake an indefinite fast from October 1.

Mahant Paramhans Das of Tapasvi Chavni temple told reporters in Ayodhya that he had sent information in this regard to the President, Prime Minister chief minister and the local administration.

“The fast will continue till the obstacles in the temple construction are removed. We will also perform ‘Shila pujan’ at the temple every day and saints and Ram Bhakts will participate in it,” he said.

He said that he had no issues with Muslims and all he wanted was the construction of the Ram temple. “I would request our Muslim brothers to cooperate in the temple construction,” he added.

Replying to a question, the Mahant asked that if the Modi government could make laws on other issues, why not the Ram temple?

“PM Modi is completing his term but our aspirations remain unfulfilled and this is why I have decided to undertake this fast and I am even reday to lay down my life for the issue,” he said.

The Mahant’s decision to begin the fast comes at a time when a high- powered steering committee of Hindu saints called the ‘Ucchadhikar Samiti’ is scheduled to meet in Delhi on October 5 to draft an action plan for the construction of a Ram temple  even as it becomes clear that the legal route will not immediately facilitate this.

According to functionaries in the VHP, there is ‘disappointment’ that a legal decision on the contentious issues is unlikely to be announced anytime soon. The saints have now been mandated to come up with an alternate plan. of action.

The VHP had, till now,  pinned its hopes on the Supreme Court delivering a judgment that would be ‘acceptable to all sections.’

A VHP functionary said that “There was expectation that the outgoing chief justice would deliver a judgment before he demits office on October 2; with that unlikely to happen, it has been decided to let the saints take a call.” Said

VHP working president Alok Kumar confirmed the meeting. He said that while day-to-day hearings were going on in the case pertaining to conspiracy charges against senior Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders, the case pertaining to the construction of a temple was still pending.“In such a situation, it is the saints who will take a call,” he added.