Ayodhya: In addition to the two truck loads of stones for the construction of the Ram mandir that had arrived in Ayodhya on June 19, another three trucks of stones arrived on Wednesday, July 5, morning.

The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) has sped up preparations for the construction of Ram mandir, which it announced is to start within a year. The three trucks of stones were unloaded at Ram Sewak Puram – the VHP’s Ram mandir construction workshop in the city. This is going to be followed by more than a hundred trucks in the next couple of days.

Talking to The Wire, senior VHP leader Triloki Nath Pandey, said, that three truck loads of stones for the construction of the Ram temple had arrived from Rajasthan, and a hundred more were still needed to build the temple.

The Supreme Court on April 19 revived the criminal conspiracy charges in the Babri masjid demolition case against senior BJP leaders L.K. Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Rajasthan Governor Kalyan Singh, Union Minister Uma Bharti, and Vinay Katiyar, among others.

The apex court had ordered that the trial in the case be conducted on a day-to-basis without adjournments and gave a time period of two years to deliver the verdict.

On 20 December 2015, after the arrival of two trucks loads of stone for the same purpose in Ayodhya, the then Samajwadi Party government banned the import of more stones by denying form 39 of the commercial tax department.

Talking to The Wire, Faizabad divisional commissioner Manoj Mishra, the receiver of the Babri masjid/Ram Janambhoomi premises appointed by the Supreme Court , said “the import of stones by VHP has not been banned either by any court nor by any authority and they are keeping the stones in their private premises.”

Reacting to this development, Khaliq Ahmad Khan, a party to the case from the Babri masjid side, said, “we will protest the arrival of stones, we will approach the receiver of Babri site and demand to stop the arrival of stones.”

Surya Kant Pandey, senior CPI leader, said, “the Muslim community is living in fear, one can easily relate this time to the times of 1947 when partition happened, and VHP’s increasing illegal activities in Ayodhya are demoralising the minority community. When the matter is before the court, such activities are openly a contempt of court and it must be stopped.”