PM announces trust for Ayodhya Ram temple

New Delhi: In a significant move, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday announced the government's decision to set up a trust to build the Ram temple at Ayodhya as directed by the Supreme Court while pronouncing the landmark verdict in the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid case last November.

Given the political "significance", the Prime Minister decided to announce the sensitive decision in Parliament by himself only. "We have readied a scheme for the development of Ram Temple in Ayodhya," Modi told the Lok Sabha minutes after the Union Cabinet cleared the move.

"I am happy to announce that in the Cabinet meeting today (Wednesday) morning, we took significant decisions on the Ayodhya trust. As per the orders of the Supreme Court, we have set up a trust. The Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Tirath Kshetra will be the name of the trust that will be an independent body. The trust will be empowered to take all decisions related to building a grand temple at Lord Ram's birthplace and related matters," Modi told the Lok Sabha amid thumping of tables by the ruling coalition members.

"We have taken another big step for Ram Mandir pilgrims. We are allocating over 67 acres of land near the mandir area to the trust," Modi said.

Surprisingly, the decision in this regard was taken by the Modi Cabinet just four days before the three-month deadline fixed by the top court to set up the trust. The Prime Minister also announced that the Uttar Pradesh government had agreed to give five-acre land to the Sunni Waqf Board as directed by the Supreme Court in the Ayodhya case.

Hailing the decision, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said the trust would comprise 15 members, including a permanent Dalit representative who would be in charge of the entire 67-acre land.

Notably, on November 9, the top court had awarded the title of the 2.77-acre disputed land to Ram Lalla Virajman, the child deity and ruled that this land should be handed over to a temple trust to be set up by the government. A review filed against this verdict was dismissed by a five-judge bench of the Apex Court led by Chief Justice SA Bobde.

Former Union Minister Uma Bharati welcomed the announcement and said it is now time to move towards the implementation of a Ram Rajya (an equitable society).