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Ayodhya verdict upholds faith; time to resolve dispute: Advani
PTI
Last Updated IST

In his blog, Advani said he was "extremely happy" to note that after the landmark judgement, the nation had "arrived at a fortuitous point" where "judicial verdict" and "amicable solution" could be blended well.

Referring to his autobiography 'My Country, My Life' released in 2008, the BJP leader, considered an icon of the Ram temple movement, said he had favoured three options -- legislation, judicial verdict and dialogue -- for Ayodhya dispute resolution.

"I feel extremely happy to say today that after the landmark judgement delivered by the Allahabad High Court two days back, the country has arrived at a fortuitous point, where Option 2 and 3 identified above can well be blended.

"As both the RSS as well as the BJP have emphasised, this judgement has given judicial recognition to the fact that millions in the country do believe that the makeshift temple where Ram Lala is presently installed is Ram Janma Bhoomi -- the birthplace of Rama. The situation no longer is 'Faith versus Law', it is 'Faith upheld by Law'," he said.

Advani, who became the best known face of the Ram temple movement after his 1990 rathyatra from Somnath in Gujarat to Ayodhya that was stopped midway in Bihar by RJD chief Lalu Prasad, said his autobiography had recorded that a solution to the dispute was imminent during former BJP Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's rule.

Quoting from the pages of the book, the veteran BJP leader said it had been his endeavour through the six years of NDA rule under Vajpayee to look at "speedily and peacefully" resolving the temple dispute.

Recalling the efforts of the post-Independence Jawaharlal Nehru cabinet in reconstruction of the Somnath temple that was demolished by "Muslim invaders", Advani said it was the same spirit in which the BJP had wanted the construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya.

The BJP leader quoted from communication between Nehru, his Home Minister Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and the Somnath Temple Construction Advisory Committee chairman Dr K M Munshi and stated that the spirit behind Ram temple construction was upholding of India's cultural and spiritual past, without which the nation had no present or future.

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(Published 03 October 2010, 16:12 IST)