Centre hopes to balance VHP, Nirmohi Akhara's demands for Ram Mandir construction: Report

Image: PTI

Given responsibility of forming a trust for the construction of Ram Mandir in Ayodhya, the Centre is aiming to strike a balance between the demands of the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) and the Nirmohi Akhara, The Economic Times has reported.

The Supreme Court of India (SC) had stated that the Nirmohi Akhara should be assigned "an appropriate role in the management" of the proposed trust. With the intention of securing a good post, the organisation is now planning to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi, according to the report.

"We want acche se accha (best possible) post in the trust— of the chairman or the secretary. We have sought a meeting with the PM," Mahant Dinendra Das of the Akhara told the newspaper.

On its part, the VHP also has certain demands. The organisation, for instance, wants the government to adopt its model for the temple. Moreover, it wishes that leaders of Sri Ram Janmabhoomi Nyas (RNB) be given prominent positions in the new trust, and that the government use construction material and funds gathered by the RNB till date.

A government official told the newspaper that the trust is likely to have government representatives on it along with religious leaders from RNB and the Akhara.

According to the report, officials from the law ministry and the attorney general are currently going through the SC judgement along with the Prime Minister's Office (PMO). According to the report, the government at this point does not deem it necessary to bring in a bill for the setting up of the trust since a law— the Ayodhya Act of 1993— already exists.

According to the report, Section 6 of the Act states that the Centre can set up a trust "by notification in official gazette". This is the route that the government is expected to take, the report states.

Both the VHP and the Akhara agree that the five-acre land for the mosque should not be given out of the 67-acre acquired land and should instead be given elsewhere in the Ayodhya city.

"We would want the entire 67-acre acquired land to be devoted to a complex for the temple," Das said.

What the VHP and the Akhara, however, do not agree upon is the model for the temple. According to another ET report, the Akhara had recently rejected a design for the temple complex suggested by VHP-backed RNB.