'Hand over disputed Ayodhya land to Hindus'

Speaking to media persons on his arrival at the temple town after attending Sants’ meet, the core committee meeting of Vishwa Hindu Parishat (VHP) on Friday, he said Masjid should be built outside the disputed land.

Rama Janmabhoomi should not be divided. Muslims should be taken into confidence and convinced to agree with the reality that the disputed land belongs to Hindus. They should be given alternative space to construct Masjid. Beyond doubt, Allahabad Court has declared the existence of Ram Janmabhoomi following the archaeological evidences. In this regard, the Central government should impress upon the Muslims for alternative land proposal outside Ram Janmabhoomi. The land surrounding Ram Janmabhoomi is sacred place for Hindus which was ‘Parikrama’ (used by Hindu devotees for taking round around the temple) since ages and could not be divided into pieces as suggested by the court, he opined.

He said the Centre through law should entitle the entire disputed land to Hindus. As Mecca and Jerusalem are sacred for Muslims and Christians respectively, Ayodhya is sacred for Hindus.

The Centre should take initiative in bringing both Hindus and Muslims on dialogue table and the out of court settlement should be favourable to Hindus. “We are prepared for both compromise and legal fight on the issue if it becomes inevitable,” he added.

VHP representative committee (Prathinidhi Mandali) is scheduled to meet the Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh at the earliest. During the meeting, he would urge Prime Minister to settle the issue amicably through out of court settlement, he said.

The Seer opined the Supreme Court would not go against Allahabad Court verdict on Ram Janmabhoomi which was based on the evidences. If required, mass movement would be organised to bring pressure on the government to bring law to see that the disputed land should be handed over to the Hindus without division. The Centre could bring law against the court verdict as in the case of Shah Bhanu case, he added.

The ‘Harmony Yatra’ (Samarasya Yatra) taken up by him in a bid to preserve unity among Hindus and creating awareness about Hinduism in the society during his stay in Mysore was followed in Dakshina Kannada and it will be continued from November in South Karnataka region.

He said he received overwhelming response from Dalits, Hindus and even other religions including Muslims and Christians. He will organise this Yatra for two to three days every month during which he intends to visit temples, Dalits and backward class colony. “I will interact with the people to create awareness about Hinduism, bringing unity among communal harmony and hence eradicating the practice of untouchability that still prevails in the society,” he opined.

Anti-defection law

He said it is essential to make anti-defection law more stringent and effective which has been escalated to a new height. He strongly opined that any elected independent member who defects after withdrawing his support to a political party should be disqualified from contesting the election for next five years. Once an independent member declares his support to ruling or opposition party, it should remain with that party till end of the term. Corruption in the name of defection should be prevented through stringent actions and effective implementation of anti-defection law, he opined.