“The debate on Babri Majjid and Ram temple should be dropped now”, said Sakshi Maharaj. (Source: ANI photo) “The debate on Babri Majjid and Ram temple should be dropped now”, said Sakshi Maharaj. (Source: ANI photo)

Ahead of proceedings in the 1992 Babri Masjid demolition case, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Sakshi Maharaj Tuesday said “no power on earth” could stop the construction of a Ram temple in Ayodhya, according to the news agency PTI.

He said, “The debate on Babri Majjid and Ram temple should be dropped now. The Muslim community was also favouring the construction of Ram temple in Ayodhya.” He claimed people who were opposed to it are now Ram bhakts.

Babar was a foreigner who had nothing to do with India, media should not repeatedly call it ‘Babri’. It is Ram Janmbahoomi, he was quoted as saying by ANI.

Meanwhile, party leaders L K Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi who appeared before a special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court in Lucknow in connection with the case on Tuesday were granted bail on personal bond. Union Water Resources Minister Uma Bharti, BJP leader Vinay Katiyar, VHP leader Vishnu Hari Dalmia and one-time firebrand Hindutva preacher Sadhvi Ritambara were also summoned to appear before the court. They too were granted bail.

Earlier in the day, Uma Bharti said that it is the matter of God and in such a case she can only have expectations from him. “Since I have taken part in it with devotion, I don’t consider myself as a criminal”, she said.

Meanwhile, another accused in the case, senior Hindutva leader Ram Vilas Vedanti told PTI, “I was among those who had pulled down the structure in Ayodhya.”

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