Despite the Supreme Court's stay order over the High Court ruling of dividing the controversial Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid site into three parts, saffron outfits of Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Sangh Parivar are working towards building a Ram temple in Ayodhya.
According to reports, VHP has been running a workshop called Ram Janmabhoomi Nyas Karyashala, just a mile away from the disputed area. A few dozen workers from Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Gujarat have been going about their daily chores of carving marble slabs in the past 23 years, Mail Today reported.
The VHP-run workshop is filled with sandstone pillars and columns. The place is regularly visited by VHP supremo Ashok Singhal and leader Praveen Togadia.
"There are 15 workers and artisans from who work here at least 12 hours a day. The pillars and columns for the first floor of the planned temple are ready. We will dig the ground for foundation and lay the plinth within 48 hours the day we get a chance. About 65 per cent work for the second floor is complete, too," VHP spokesperson Sharad Sharma told the tabloid.
The whole controversy surrounding the ban by the Uttar Pradesh government on 84 kos yatra, proposed by VHP between 25 August and 13 September, is to stop VHP saints from garnering support for the temple.
The chaurasi kos parikrama yatra is to take place in six districts of Uttar Pradesh - Faizabad, Basti, Barabanki, Gonda, Bahraich and Ambedkar Nagar.
Sharma claimed that devotees of Ram who wanted the temple to be built gifted VHP bricks. "We keep them safely in the workshop. Each brick will be used once the construction begins," he told Mail Today.
To boost the prospects of Bharatiya Janata Party's future in the state, Sangh Parivar and the VHP sped up the resurrection process after Narendra Modi's close aid Ami Shah visited Uttar Pradesh on 6 July. "I came here to pray to Ram Lalla. I wish we will soon build a grand temple for Lord Ram here and restore Lord Ram to his rightful place," Shah had said.
After nearly a month on 2 August, top brass of the BJP and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) met the saffron outfits to sharpen their focus and contribution towards BJP's victory in 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
BJP president Rajnath Singh was quick to point out on Thursday the 'religious right' of Indian citizens when UP government denied the annual yatra to take place this year on fears that it would communal clashes in the state.
Two Superintendents of Police, 16 ASPs, 32 DSPs, 80 inspectors, 240 sub- inspectors, besides PAC and RAF, are spread across Faizabad and Ayodhya districts to maintain law and order when VHP's Ashok Singhal had threatened to go ahead with the yatra.
"The same security that the government has used to ensure the ban could have been used to ensure the pilgrimage went off smoothly," Rajnath was quoted as saying in Lucknow.
The Sangh Parivar and the VHP are already gunning for polarising the votes in the state. BJP leaders along with VHP have been asking the locals in the Ayodhya districts to support the resurrection of a Ram temple on the disputed site.
While the district authorities have been preparing to arrest the leaders in Faizabad, a petition has been filed at the Allahabad High Court on Thursday to direct the UP government to permit the VHP for the chaurasi kos parikrama.
