BJP = Temple Building Company?

Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi fumes

In a major change of stance on the Ram temple issue, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday said that it was not a construction company involved in building religious structures.

"BJP is not a construction company to build a temple, mosque, church and gurudwara. We support the cause that there should be a Ram temple in Ayodhya, but it has to be done with consensus of the religious groups and organisations through negotiations and talks or according to the court's verdict," said senior BJP leader Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi in an interview to Gulf News.

BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar agreed with Naqvi's views saying the BJP and the Rashtriya Swamsewak Sangh (RSS) have no political interest in building the Ram temple in Ayodhya.

"Never in the history have we said that BJP will construct the Ram mandir. It is the Ram Janma Bhoomi Trust which has taken upon itself the responsibility of constructing the Ram mandir. RSS never expected the BJP to construct the mandir and take the contract of constructing it. Temple is a religious thing. The government doesn’t do that, the government solves the problem and it will ensure that there are no hurdles. So what we had started was a dialogue between two communities that will be carried forward and will come to conclusion and mutual understanding is the best solution or it is the court direction which will come," said Javadekar.

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