Adopt our model or Ram temple may take long to build, VHP tells government

NEW DELHI: The Vishwa Hindu Parishad has appealed to the Centre that the proposed Ram Temple Trust adopt the model suggested by the Ram Janmabhoomi Nyas for the Ram Temple in Ayodhya, as this would help speed up its construction.

“This model of the temple has been there for nearly 30 years — since 1989 when it was placed in the Kumbh in Prayagraj - and it has reached lakhs of homes already,” VHP vice-president Champat Rai told ET. “A majority of the slabs have been carved already over the last two decades according to this model of the temple and they are revered by the people,” he added.

Adopting any new model by the trust, which would be notified soon, could mean starting the temple’s work from scratch, and that would lead to the construction taking many years, Rai said. The Nyas’s model of the temple - two-storeys, going 128-feet-high and 269-feet-long - is “grand and optimum”, he said.

The temple’s design and expanse over the 67 acres of government-acquired land in Ayodhya will also determine the location of a proposed 251-metre statue of Lord Ram in the town. This would be tallest statue in the world.

A senior Uttar Pradesh government official said the idea was to create a dedicated corridor for pilgrims from the temple complex till the statue on the banks of River Saryu and the statue was expected to be completed in 2022. The state government has approved Rs 667 crore for the project under which the statue, a digital museum and an interpretation centre would come up. This project is being modelled on the Sardar Patel statue project in Gujarat.

The Prime Minister may lay the foundation stone of both the Ram Temple and Ram Statue projects in Ayodhya on Ram Navami, which is on April 2. Two senior central government officials have visited Ayodhya last week and one senior official each from the Centre and UP would be nominated on the Ram Temple Trust.

Ram Janmabhoomi Nyas chief Nritya Gopal Das could be named the president of the proposed trust, while a serving IAS officer from the UP government could become its CEO.

The planned corridor between the Ram Temple and the statue could be in the lines of the Kashi Vishwanath Corridor in Varanasi. Work on the Rs 350 crore dedicated corridor from the Kashi Vishwanath temple to the ghats started on Wednesday. The PM had laid the foundation stone of the Varanasi project last year.