Build Ram mandir without bitterness: PM Modi tells trustees

Wednesday 26th February 2020 05:04 EST
 
 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked members of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teertha Kshetra Trust to ensure that the temple was built peacefully “without any bitterness” in society. “Work should be accomplished at the earliest without hurting anyone,” he told them during a brief interaction at his residence.

“We had a courtesy meeting with the PM on his invitation as he wanted to meet senior trust members Nritya Gopal Das and K Parasaran. He suggested that social harmony should be maintained and temple construction should be executed in a way that no one feels hurt,” trust general secretary Champat Rai, who was among the four office-bearers to call on Modi, said. Gopal Das Giri was the other member to meet the PM.

Rai said the temple will be built on the model proposed by VHP in the first phase and expansion will be considered only after the first phase is over.

It is learnt that the proposed plan will be altered slightly to increase the temple’s height, and another floor could probably be added to the existing design. “The temple will be built on the base of the VHP map. There can be changes to its proposed shape and scale,” Swami Govind Dev Giri, another member of the trust, said.

Another member of the trust said, “We have received suggestions to make changes to the old design in order to give an ever grander form to the temple. Now, we are brainstorming on building a three-storey structure instead of the two stories proposed earlier, as well as adding a pavilion and detailing to the 35-feet high 'shikhar'.” The height of the proposed temple could be increased to 160 feet from 125 feet decided earlier by the VHP.

In 1987, craftsman Chandrakant Sompura had prepared a model of the proposed temple based on the VHP's design after being asked by VHP international president Ashok Singhal. The temple will be built in Lord Vishnu's favourite octagonal shape and its structure will be made with stone without the use of iron.

“There was consensus among the trust members in its first meeting that temple construction should be completed in next two years. Construction of the existing model will be ideal to follow as carvings of major parts of the structure have already been done,” Rai said.

“The date to start construction will be decided in the next meeting in Ayodhya next month,” he said, adding that the Ayodhya administration had been urged to shift the Ram Lalla idol to a permanent structure from the makeshift tent.

All key dates, including start of construction, will be decided as per the Hindu Panchang, which was followed to fix the first meeting of the trust which was on was Vijaya Ekadasi, an auspicious day for Hindus. “Moreover, the day coincided with the birth anniversary of second RSS pramukh M S Golwalkar,” Rai said.


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