New Delhi, Dec 2:
BJP National General Secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya has said that his party was not thinking of bringing an ordinance “as of now” for construction of the Ram temple at the disputed site in Ayodhya. He, however, asserted that it was only the BJP that could construct the Ram temple at Ayodhya as “no one else has the guts” to do it. The temple issue, he said, did “more harm than good” to the BJP as the matter was being used by the opposition “to terrorise minorities and polarise votes”. “We would appeal to the court once again for a verdict on the issue (Ram Mandir). When a matter is in court, we should not be in a hurry and give it enough time to take a decision.
But if people’s aspirations keep increasing, the government will have to take a call on it (whether to bring ordinance or not). As of now, the party is not thinking of bringing in an ordinance on construction of temple,” Vijayvargiya said. The Supreme Court has declined an early hearing of petitions in the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid title dispute case. It had earlier fixed the case for the first week of January before an “appropriate bench”, which will decide the schedule of hearing.
When asked about the growing clamour for ordinance by various organisations and political outfits such as Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), RSS and Shiv Sena, he reiterated that they would have to appeal to the court for an early verdict. Thousands of devotees thronged Ayodhya on November 25 to attend VHP’s ‘Dharam Sabha’ to discuss the Ram Mandir issue, with a senior religious leader asserting the dates for building the temple would be announced early next year. Last week, NDA-ally Shiv Sena’s chief Uddhav Thackeray said the BJP government at the Centre “may not last” if the temple was not constructed in Ayodhya, warning that “emotions of Hindus should not be taken for granted”. Rubbishing opposition claims that the saffron party rakes up Ram Mandir issue for political benefits ahead of elections, Vijayvargiya said, “The BJP has not raised the matter, it was saints and other organisations that did. The party has never gone into polls with Ram Mandir issue. For us, the agenda has always been ‘Sabka Sath Sabka Vikas’,” he said. He alleged that opposition parties have been trying to harm the party’s prospects by intimidating minorities with the temple issue. “During elections, some sections of people raise this issue just to terrorise minorities. The issue doesn’t help the BJP, rather it causes damage as minorities en bloc vote against us,” he claimed. Vijayvargiya, who is the BJP in-charge of Bengal, said the BJP would wish to build the temple, keeping the court’s decision and Constitution’s provisions in mind.
