A model of proposed Ram temple is pictured in Ayodhya

MUMBAI: The RSS wants the Modi government to legislate on the Ram temple issue. The Sangh is of the view that the Centre should acquire the Ayodhya land and hand it over for construction of the temple, RSS joint general secretary Manmohan Vaidya said on Wednesday.

Vaidya’s statement indicated the Janmabhoomi issue would be the focus of the RSS’s all-India working council which began its deliberations at Keshav Srishti, near Uttan in Bhayander, on Wednesday. The conclave will also finalise the Sangh’s strategy for the upcoming assembly elections in MP, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, sources said.

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In the Ayodhya case, the government should follow the example of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel who cleared the decks for the reconstruction of the Somnath temple in Gujarat, for the consecration of which Dr Rajendra Prasad, then President, was present, Vaidya said. He was addressing a press meet at Keshav Srishti.

The RSS is thus keen on reviving the temple issue in the run-up to the general elections, said observers. Interestingly, the Shiv Sena too is of the same view and Saamna, the Sena mouthpiece, has been vociferously demanding that the Modi regime promulgate an ordinance on the issue. Sena president Uddhav Thackeray plans to visit Ayodhya on November 25, they added.

Read also: Why a law may not help build the Ram temple in Ayodhya

Stating that the Ram temple was a matter of “pride and glory” for the country, Vaidya said it was neither a Hindu-Muslim issue nor a temple-mosque dispute. When the generals of Babar invaded Ayodhya, they destroyed the Ram temple, he said. It has been conclusively proved by excavations carried out by the archaeological department that there was a temple on the site, he added.

“It wasn’t the case that there was no land in Ayodhya to offer namaaz. Land was plenty, and Babar’s generals could have built a mosque to offer prayers. However, the truth is that they destroyed the Ram temple,” Vaidya said.

Vaidya further said Islam scholars are of the view that namaaz offered on land forcibly occupied is not acceptable. The Supreme Court too has held the view that a mosque is not needed to offer namaaz and that it can be offered at any place.

The Sangh conclave will also deliberate on issues such as environment, water and soil conservation, cow protection and preservation of family values. Since the RSS started its expansion drive in 2010, the Sangh ‘shakha’ has reached nearly 850 districts and 6,000 tehsils in the country, Vaidya said.

Earlier, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat and general secretary Bhaiyyaji Joshi set the conclave going by garlanding the statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji and Bharat Mata at Keshav Srishti.

