A 'de jure' temple in Ayodhya: Advani

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>vaidika1008 (AT) hotmail (DOT) com >[bJP News]: A 'de jure' temple exists in

Ayodhya: Advani >Wed, 11 Apr 2001 09:40:15 -0400 > >Title: A 'de jure'

temple exists in Ayodhya: Advani >Author: Tara Shankar Sahay in New Delhi

>Publication: Rediff >April 11, 2001 > > Union Home Minister Lal

Kishenchand Advani asserted on > Wednesday that a temple used to exist at the

very site of the > Babri Masjid in Ayodhya and added that the temple is a >

reality again today. > > "From 1950 to 2001, namely for 51 years, what stands >

there is a temple. First a de facto temple and today a temple > which is de

facto as well as de jure," Advani said during his > two-hour deposition before

the Liberhan Commission. > > "I have been pleading with the supporters of Ram

Janambhoomi, who > occasionally announce that from this date onwards we will

start reconstruction of > the temple and telling them that at the site there at

Ram Janam Sthan, there is > nothing but a temple." > > Qoting the Faizabad Civil

Judge's order in 1950, the home minister said, "From > 1936 onwards Muslims have

neither used the site as a mosque nor offered prayers > there and... Hindus have

been performing the puja at the disputed site." > > He said "From 1950 onwards

it had not become any major issue so much so that > the central government and

the state government, both belonging to the Congress, > seemed to cooperate in

the locks on the temple being removed and 'shilanyas' > being performed." > >

However, when the commission counsel Anupam Gupta asked how could he say > that

a "de jure" temple existed at the site and was he legitimising demolition as a >

legal fait accompli, Advani said "So far as the courts are concerned, I am a >

humble citizen. I cannot at all contemplate presenting the courts a fait

accompli. > > "What I have in mind are various organisations and political

parties, who were > part of this dispute all along prior to 1992, even they

thought it was a temple by > virtue of a court injunction," he said. > > He

said the superstructure was that of a mosque and he regarded it as significant

> that even the government in its white paper did not refer to it as a mandir

or a > mosque but only as a disputed structure. > > Asked by Gupta about his

views on the temple, Advani said, "I am not competent > to give my views to the

court." > > Advani also pointed out that during his 1990 Rath Yatra to Ayodhya

he had not > created any controversy regarding pitting Lord Ram against Babar

and the > negative slogans raised by some of his supporters were not approved

by him. > > He also informed the court that Parliamentary Affairs Minister

Pramod Mahajan > did not use any provocative language during his Rath Yatra. >

> Advani said after the demolition, the first reaction of several organisations

and > political parties was that "we shall rebuild the mosque". > > "I regard it

as significant that subsequently there have been elections in 1996, > 1998, 1999

apart from elections in Uttar Pradesh but no political party has ever > spoken

of rebuilding the mosque," he said. > > This showed that by and large it had

come to be accepted that on the place > believed to be the birth place of Ram,

there was only a temple, he said. > > Defending the use of the word 'de jure

temple', he said "Therefore, I used the > word somewhat loosely of describing

it also as a de jure temple. I would like to > emphasise again that I am not

using this phrase as against the possibility of courts > deciding something

else finally in that regard." > > He said despite the Congress Government

allowing opening of the locks of the > disputed structure and performance of

'shilanyas', the problem began when some > section of the population thought it

proper to set up Babri Masjid Action > Committee. > > "For us in the BJP, the

participation in the Ramjanambhoomi movement was > aimed at the concept of

strengthening nationalism in the country which we believe > is cultural

nationalism and not merely physical and geographical nationalism," > said

Advani. > > He said, it was because of India's cultural nationalism that the

country had > rejected theocracy in 1950 unlike Pakistan.

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