UP babu’s note on rebuilding Ram temple creates flutter

LUCKNOW: A communique of the Uttar Pradesh (UP) government convening a meeting of senior police officers and the district magistrate of Faizabad to discuss the reconstruction of a Ram temple at Ayodhya on the lines of rebuilding of Somnath temple created a flutter in the state capital, even triggering speculation in political circles.

The communique issued by Satish Chandra Mishra, secretary to the state government, instructed the director-general of police and other senior police officers to attend a meeting convened on Monday evening in connection with the “enactment of a law in Parliament for construction of a temple at Shri Ramjanmabhoomi on the lines of the reconstruction of the Somnath Mandir” .

Ayodhya meet to assess law & order?

Going by the people called for the meeting, all of them police officers with the exceptions of principal secretary (home) R M Srivastava and the district magistrate of Faizabad whose jurisdiction includes Ayodhya, the purpose of the exercise seemed, on the face of it, to be related to maintenance of law and order.

However, the description of the subject, with a specific mention of the reconstruction of a temple at “Shri Ramjanmabhoomi on the lines of the reconstruction of temple at Somnath” , left many intrigued.

“Shri Ramjanmabhoomi” is pretty much a Sangh Parivar term for the disputed site. The reference to Somnath also stood out as the BJP and Sangh Parivar have defended their campaign for the construction of Ram temple at Ayodhya by drawing an analogy of government’s support for reconstruction of the legendary Shiv temple at Somnath after independence.

Also, VHP has long demanded a central law to facilitate the construction of Ayodhya temple.

When contacted, principal secretary (home) Srivastava, who has to chair the meeting, sought to tamp down the speculation about the purpose of the meeting by saying it was meant only to discuss the repercussions of VHP’s fresh plan to revive its temple campaign. He said that VHP has planned to observe a Sankalp Diwas where its cadre will take a fresh pledge to build the Ram temple.