Temple construction could begin as early as January 2020.

The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) has no plans to celebrate the “victory” if the Supreme Court’s decision on the Ayodhya land dispute, expected later this month, goes “in favour of the Hindus”.

The restraint will be in line with the “tradition of the RSS”, senior functionaries of the Sangh Parivar told The Hindu. It is also expected that the construction of the Ram temple will start in early 2020, in case of a favourable verdict.

The verdict will “not be projected as a victory for the Hindus and defeat for Muslims,” a top official of the Viswa Hindu Parishad (VHP) also reiterated, following a two-day meeting of Sangh Parivar organisations recently. A senior RSS official also approved the observation on condition of anonymity.

“The Sangh never celebrates victories. Have you seen us celebrating after [abrogation of ] Article 370? We do not assess anything as a victory or defeat and this will be a court verdict [so] there is no question of victory or a defeat…it can be interpreted as victory of justice,” the official said.

“We have many more works left. We need to work to eradicate various forms of discrimination, including caste-based ones. We need to cultivate a feeling of nationalism and develop the idea of ‘one nation’…so a lot of work is left,” he said.

While there was no official statement from the Sangh Parivar, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent message to maintain peace is considered the “official line” by the RSS.

Work on the construction of the Ram temple is “expected to commence from the day of Makar Sankranti”. “The possibility is that the construction will commence on the Makar Sankranti [January 2020] and end on the same day in 2024,” the official said. However, he said the various committees of “sants (ascetics) and mahants (priests), who were the petitioners in the case, would decide the timeline” of temple construction, in case of a favourable judgment. In the run up to the verdict, many of Sangh’s programmes have been postponed. The internal training of pracharaks at Haridwar, to be attended by RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, was set to be the most elaborate national programme but has been put off.