|
Radical Hindu Group: Temple Will Be Built Near Razed Mosque
 |
| Militant
Hindu fanatics razed the 430-year-old mosque in 1992 |
HARIDWAR,
India, June 23 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - A radical Hindu
group in India on Sunday, June 23, brushed off advice from the ruling
BJP party to wait for a court ruling on a controversial plan to build
a temple near the site of a razed mosque.
Praveen
Togadia, the general secretary of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (World
Hindu Council), said he did not need advice from political parties
including the BJP, which has ideological links with the Hindu group,
Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.
“The
VHP is meeting here to express the sentiments of millions of Hindus.
We are not concerned by the stand of political parties,” Togadia
said in the northern Indian holy town of Haridwar.
He
also ruled out talks with Muslim religious leaders on the temple
construction plan.
The
VHP and other Hindu hardliners want to build a temple on the ruins of
the 16th-century Babri mosque in the northern town of Ayodhya, which
was demolished by Hindu zealots in December 1992, sparking communal
riots in which more than 2,000 people were killed.
Hindus
claim the Babri mosque was built over the birthplace of their god Ram.
The
dispute over the site of the ruined mosque is now in the hands of the
courts and on Saturday BJP spokesman Vijay Kumar Malhotra said the
party favored “resolving the dispute through court verdict or
consensus among parties involved in the dispute.”
Hindu
groups had set a March 12 deadline for the federal government, which
controls the land around the razed mosque, to clear obstacles for the
construction of the temple.
After
intense lobbying by Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, the
activists agreed to a scaled-down ceremony on March 15.
The
VHP this month held another ceremony as a precursor to the temple’s
construction.
VHP
general secretary Togadia said on Saturday, June 22, the group would
launch an all-India campaign to gather support for the temple’s
construction.
“The
construction of Ram temple is non-negotiable. It is a matter of faith
for 900 million Hindus worldwide,” he said.
In
a resolution on Saturday, the VHP expressed its anger at the BJP-led
federal coalition for “its unpardonable suppression of the March 15
program and for not taking a just position on the issue.”
|
