(Image for representation/AFP)

Ayodhya: Three trucks carrying raw material to build a Ram Temple have arrived in Ayodhya. Pink stone from Dholpur in Rajasthan were brought in by the trucks and were being offloaded at the Ram Mandir Karyashala (workshop) managed by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP). On Thursday, when CNN-News18 visited Ayodhya, the signs of change were clearly visible.

A month back, in his address to saints and seers in Ayodhya, UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had said that the Ram temple was a matter of faith for him and his government would extend all possible help under the law.


‎The state government has thus helped, lifting the embargo on supply of raw material, basically stone for the proposed temple. More than 200 tonnes of Dholpur stone has reached Ayodhya.

VHP's state spokesperson Sharad Sharma is upbeat. He said he was grateful to Adityanath for his gesture. “The Akhilesh Yadav government had stopped the supply of stone to Ayodhya. It was playing politics of appeasement. Now by doing away with the embargo, the UP CM has proved that he is a real Ram bhakt.”


Before this, the last time stones for the temple arrived at the workshop was in December 2015. After that, the then Samajwadi Party government banned further supplies.

But when the matter is sub judice, why this haste? When asked about whether it had something to do with 2019 elections, Sharma denied it. “Supplies for Ram temple have kept on coming since 90s. Nearly 65 percent work in form of cutting pillars and carving on them has already been done. We want to be fully prepared for the time when temple construction will actually start.”


Haji Mahboob, one of the petitioners in the title suit pending before the Supreme Court, said, “It's only politics and posturing‎, nothing else.”

"Yogi Adityanath should behave as Chief Minister for all. Unfortunately he is not doing so. BJP is trying to fan the Hindu passion with eyes on 2019 Lok Sabha polls. They know they cannot start constructing of the Ram Temple,” he said.

But BJP sees it as routine exercise. State general secretary Vijay Bahadur Pathak said, “The arrival of these stones is a non-issue. BJP and our government respects the court and nothing is been done, which is against the directives of courts in the Ramjanambhoomi case.”