Jaipur: Speaking to the media after Congress’s recent win in the local body elections in Rajasthan, deputy chief ministerSachin Pilot said that the party wants a “grand temple” at Ayodhya.
Pilot said the Supreme Court’s decision in the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid land title dispute case, in favour of the construction of a Hindu shrine would be “acceptable to all” and that politics on the issue will now draw to a close.
“Everyone has welcomed the decision and the Congress party wants a grand temple be built there [Ayodhya],” Sachin Pilot told reporters in Dausa district of Rajasthan.
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“We have to happily respect and maintain that decision. People who had been doing politics over the Ayodhya issue for the past 30 years should understand that no one will benefit by raising the issue again,” he added.
Those on social media have been quick to call Pilot’s statement an example of Congress’s “soft Hindutva” line.
Interestingly, after the Congress’s recent win at the local body elections, party leaders have stated that the mandate in their favour was a rejection of BJP’s raking up of the Ayodhya issue. “The results are a lesson for the BJP. People have rejected them for Article 370 and the Ayodhya temple,” said state minister Pratap Singh Khachariyawas.
In the verdict, the Supreme Court had also ruled that an alternative five-acre plot be allotted for building a mosque in Ayodhya.