In an apparent bid to send out a message that the whole Hindu society is united over the Ram Mandir issue, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) on Saturday demanded that a dalit priest be appointed in the proposed temple in Ayodhya. It also said that money given by the society should be used to construct the temple.
The VHP's remarks came even as the government is working on setting up a trust for the construction of the temple within the next few week as mandated by the Supreme Court.
“The VHP is preparing several dalit priests from quite some time. With the Dharmacharya Contact Department and Archak Purohit Department, the VHP is running a campaign to train Scheduled Caste to become a priest,” VHP spokesperson Vinod Bansal told news agency IANS.
The VHP has always tried to associated the dalit community with the Ram Mandir movement. It was Kameshwar Chaupal, a dalit party worker from Bihar, who laid the foundation stone for the temple in 1989.
As per the November 9 Supreme Court judgment in the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid matter, the central government has been directed to formulate a scheme with necessary provisions for the setting up of a trust with a board of trustees or any other appropriate body, the functioning of the trust, the powers of the trustees, transfer of land to the trust and all necessary, incidental and supplemental matters.
In its verdict, the Supreme Court had paved the way for the construction of a Ram temple by a trust at the disputed site at Ayodhya, and directed the Centre to allot an alternative 5-acre plot to the Sunni Waqf Board for building a new mosque at a "prominent" place in the holy town in Uttar Pradesh
The apex court had said a trust should be formed within three months for the construction of the temple at the site where many Hindus believe Lord Ram was born.
