VHP wish list demands BJP to build Ram Temple

As the Narendra Modi-led NDA prepares form the government at Centre, BJP’s affiliate outfit VHP on Saturday came out with a wish list ranging from Ram Temple to law on cow slaughter, which it wants to be addressed within the Constitutional framework.

Among other issues in the wish list are Common Civil Code and saving the “enduring holistic culture” by incorporating its “vitals in the educational curriculum” and legal prohibition on “horizontal religious conversions”.

Addressing a press conference here, VHP International president Ashok Singhal said the absolute majority that the BJP got under the leadership of Modi stands for triumph of the ideas and principles of Gandhiji’s Ram Rajya (welfare state) and Suraajya (good governance).

To a question on construction of Ram Temple, Singhal said that with the formation of a strong government at the centre, the temple would be definitely built “strongly”. When pressed to specify a timeline, he said there was no need for impatience.

He claimed that the starting point for “Temple development will be to ensure autonomy for Sri Ram Janmabhumi Mandir and the lakhs of Hindu temples taken over by the governments”. Singhal listed several other issues which, he said, were related to Hindutva and could be worked out within the framework of the Constitution.

Saving the Ganga from pollution and ensuring its perennial flow, law against cow slaughter, Common Civil Code and saving the “enduring holistic culture” by incorporating its “vitals in the educational curriculum” and legal prohibition on “horizontal religious conversions” were demands which could be fulfilled through the Constitution, he said.