“RECONSTRUCTION of Sri Ram temple in Ayodhya will not only benefit the whole world but will also help in building a violence-free and discrimination-free society,” said former Union HRD Minister Dr Murli Manohar Joshi. He was inaugurating a two-day national seminar organised by Panchnad Research Institute on Shri Ramjanmabhoomi in New Delhi on July 24. A total of 350 intellectuals and scholars from 22 places of the country participated in the seminar. More than 30 scholars shared their views on the issue. VHP president Shri Ashok Singhal, joint general secretary Shri Champat Rai, Akhil Bharatiya Prachar Pramukh of RSS Dr Manmohan Vaidya, Delhi Prant Sanghachalak Shri Ramesh Prakash, national convenor of Shiksha Bachao Andolan Samiti Shri Dina Nath Batra, senior journalist Shri Shyam Khosla and many other important personalities were among the audience. The proceedings were conducted by vice chancellor of Makhanlal Chaturvedi Rashtriya Patrakarita Vishwavidyalaya, Bhopal, Dr BK Kuthiyala. Dr Joshi further said that it is difficult to imagine Bharat without Sri Ram. “Shri Ram built the atmosphere of social harmony all over the country. His character and thinking inspire us to live a meaningful life. The reconstruction of Sri Ram temple in Ayodhya and development of the country are not two different issues, rather they are co-related,” he said. Noted economist and author Dr Bajranglal Gupt presented the whole issue in totality He said it is the question of self-respect, identity and honour of the entire nation. “Every country protects and preserves its places of honour. The barbaric invaders destroyed our holy places 1,200 years ago. We cannot overlook them. These are not two or three places, rather more than 3,000 places of honour were destroyed. The ruins of them can be found even today at hundreds of places. The real purpose of destroying them was to hurt the honour of the Hindus,” he said. About the Ramjanmabhoomi he said it is wrong to create controversy over the issues of faith. “There are concrete evidences which prove that a mosque was built over the temple there. There are even Islamic evidences in this regard which prove that the temple was demolished on the instruction of Babur’s general Mir Baqi and the mosque was built with the ruins of the temple. When the disputed structure was demolished on December 6, 1992 many ruins of the temple were found. The radar scanning done twice by foreign agencies also proved that the mosque was built over the foundation of a temple. The Hindus have been fighting against it right from the day one when the Ramjanmabhoomi was attacked. A total of 73 battles were fought for it only during the Mughal period. During the British period also three major battles were fought. More than 3.5 lakh people sacrificed their lives in these battles. The sacrifices by so many people speak itself about the reverence and importance of this place for Hindus,” he said. Speaking at the second session noted archaeologist Shri AK Sharma who had appeared before the Lucknow bench of Allahabad High Court on behalf of the Archaeological Survey of India, said the archaeological evidences prove that the mosque was not built over the barren land and namaz was never offered there. He said the excavation done by a Japanese company, Tojo International and radar surveys confirmed the ruins of the temple at 52 places. Noted historian Shri Satish Mittal said there is clear mention of Sri Ramjanmabhoomi as the holiest place of Hindus in Baburnama, Ain-e-Akbari and Saifa-ul-Chaliha and all these books also clearly reveal that a mosque was built over this holy temple by Babur. He said there are so many Encyclopedias and government gazetteers which have mentions of Ayodhya and Ram temple. Former Union Minister Shri Arif Mohammad Khan said the negotiated settlement of any dispute is done by winning the hearts. He stressed the need to depoliticise the issue. He said no solution can be found through violence and threat. Noted journalist Shri Hari Jai Singh said India was ruled by foreigners due to the weaknesses of countrymen. Supreme Court advocate Shri Bhupendra Yadav said three things are still undisputed in this case-Ayodhya is a holy pilgrimage place, Sri Ram was born in Ayodhya and Sri Ram was an incarnation in the Dashavatar tradition. He said Ayodhya has been the cultural pride of the nation and restoration of the pride of Ayodhya and Sri Ram will restore the pride of Bharat world over. Supreme Court Bar Association president Shri MN Krishna Mani though expressed concern over the delay in the court verdict, but he said all should have faith in the judiciary. Speaking at the concluding ceremony vice chancellor of Punjab Technical University Dr Rajnish Arora described the question of Ramjanmabhoomi as the question of Bharatiya asmita. Presiding over the concluding ceremony former CBI director Sardar Joginder Singh said the issue of birth place of Sri Ram is a matter of faith. Stressing the need of character building he praised the efforts of RSS which has been doing it for the last 85 years. (FOC)
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