The Hindu : Advani hopeful of building temple at Ram Janmasthan

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jul 17, 2003

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Advani hopeful of building temple at Ram Janmasthan

By Vinay Kumar

GORAKHPUR (Uttar Pradesh) JULY 16. The Deputy Prime Minister, L.K. Advani, today expressed the hope that the temple will be built at Ram Janmasthan in Ayodhya.

Addressing a public meeting at the Shri Gorakhshnath temple here, Mr. Advani said that he was hopeful that the Ayodhya issue would be resolved through dialogue between the two communities.

Talking to reporters, Mr. Advani said: "My optimism is based on interaction with various sections of people over the past seven or eight months. I observed that there is a desire among the people to see that the Ram temple is built at Ayodhya. This desire cuts across people from both the communities. I am hopeful that the issue will be resolved through efforts on the part of both the communities.''

However, Mr. Advani refused to be drawn into specifics and did not say if the proposed temple would be constructed at the disputed or the undisputed site or the fact that the Ram Janmasthan (sanctum sanctorum) of the proposed temple is located in the disputed site.

When asked about the recent proposals of the Kanchi Sankaracharya, Sri Jayendra Saraswati, on Ayodhya which were rejected by the All-India Muslim Personal Law Board, he did not express any view.

Mr. Advani, who has been in the forefront of the Ayodhya agitation of the Bharatiya Janata Party in the post-1989 period, made these observations just two days ahead of the party's national executive scheduled to meet at Raipur.

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