VHP Stockpiles Stones to Construct Ram Mandir in Ayodhya

Indian Hindu artisans carve stone blocks for the proposed Ram temple in the holy city of Ayodhya on 23 January 2004. (Photo: Reuters)

At least three trucks of red stones were brought for building the Ram mandir in Ayodhya, under the supervision of the fringe outfit Vishswa Hindu Parishad, as ANI reported.

These red stones are for Ram Janam Bhoomi Mandir’s construction. These stones were brought here previously also and now again it’s coming. Akhilesh Yadav’s government imposed restrictions on the bringing of stones for the construction of Mandir (sic)

Prakash Kumar Gupta, Ram Janam Bhoomi VHP Representative

(Photo: ANI)

Even though the decision on the Babri Masjid-Ram Janmabhoomi site is still pending with the Supreme Court, the VHP has started stockpiling stones for the construction of a Ram temple in Ayodhya.

Claiming that the construction will begin in a year, the VHP said that it is confident there will be no "hurdles" now that there is a BJP government in Uttar Pradesh.

"Two truckloads of stones to be used for the construction of the Ram temple arrived here from Bharatpur in Rajasthan on Monday. We need more than 100 truckloads of stones to give final shape to the proposed Ram temple," senior VHP leader Triloki Nath Pandey said.

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The trucks were unloaded at the VHP headquarters Karsewak Puram. The rest of the supplies would come in a couple of days.

"Now there is a BJP government in the state. So there will not be any hurdles in the way of the construction of the Ram temple," Pandey asserted.

In 2015, the VHP announced its nationwide drive to collect stones for construction of Ram temple in Ayodhya and two trucks of stones arrived in the city in December. However, the then Samajwadi Party government banned further import by denying form 39 of the commercial tax department.

Stone columns that Hindu nationalist group Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) say will be used to build a Ram temple at the disputed religious site in Ayodhya in June 2016. (Photo: Reuters)

"A month ago, we contacted the officer concerned of the commercial tax department and he immediately issued the form 39 that the department had been holding for over a year," Pandey said.

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Reacting to the development, Khaliq Ahmad Khan, a litigant in the case being heard by the Supreme Court, said the stones were brought in to convey a message to the people that saffron forces were serious about building the Ram temple.

It, however, will not affect the ongoing case. "We have full faith in the Constitution and the Supreme Court," Khan said.

Roop Rekha Varma, a former vice chancellor of the Lucknow University, said, "As the matter is subjudice, such activities are illegal and anti-national. It may give rise to communal tension and disturb the peace and law and order."

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(With inputs from PTI.)