Parliament must empower Ram temple construction: VHP

RAMNATHI - The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) Sunday appealed for a parliamentary act empowering the construction of a grand Ram temple in Ayodhya and claimed it had received letters of support from 353 non-BJP members of parliament.

The three-day conclave of VHP trustees and members of the governing council has also vowed to create awareness throughout India against what it called unfair branding” of saints and leaders as “saffron or Hindu terrorists”.

Speaking to reporters after the conclusion the conclave, VHP international president Ashok Singhal said that while the group wanted the Supreme Court to deliver the appeal verdict as soon as possible, it has also appealed to Indian parliament to come up with a suitable enactment of law empowering the construction of the temple soon.

We have received letters of support from 353 non-BJP members in the parliament. Our appeal is to all the parties. We want them to endorse and sanction the construction of the Ramjanmabhoomi temple by an act of parliament, Singhal said.

Singhal, who was elected for another term as the international president, explained that the letters of support were given by 20 MPs from Kerala, 37 from Tamil Nadu, 22 from Andhra Pradesh, 21 from Karnataka, 20 from Maharashtra, 40 from Gujarat, 53 from Uttar Pradesh, among others.

We have demanded that the temple should be constructed over all the 70 odd acres of land in the temple complex, which was acquired by the government of India, Singhal said.