Pravin Togadia blames Narendra Modi for Ram Mandir delay

Former Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader Pravin Togadia on Tuesday targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the delay in construction of a grand Ram temple in Ayodhya.

He also accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of cheating people in the name of Lord Ram and said he will wait till October this year before launching a massive agitation to press for a grand shrine on the ruins of the Babri mosque. The 62-year-old Togadia, who has launched an International Hindu Parishad, said that his workers will fan out across the country to get 10 crore signatures for construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya.

A deadline of October would be set for the Modi government to act on the issue, failing which a people’s movement would be launched from Lucknow to press for an early construction of the temple.

Interacting with media persons here, the firebrand leader said the BJP had been in power nationally for the last four years but millions of Hindus had been left in the lurch over the promise of construction of a Ram temple in Ayodhya.

“Our patience is running out and if by October a law is not enacted for construction of a Ram temple, we will have to find another alternative.”

Togadia also demanded that the Modi government must enact a law for handing over of Kashi Vishwanath temple in Varanasi, the Krishna Janmabhoomi in Mathura and the Ram Janmabhoomi at Ayodhya to Hindus.

Slamming BJP leaders for saying that people would have to wait as the matter was sub-judice, Togadia said if this was the case, why were people told that a grand Ram temple would be built at Ayodhya on the lines of the Somnath temple in Gujarat.

He said the Prime Minister might not have got time for the Ram temple as he was busy with his frequent foreign visits.