Ahmedabad:
Leader of the
Opposition in the Lok Sabha L.K. Advani, who is facing humiliation
and dissent from his own party, on Friday tries to re-open the Babri
Masjid issue once again.
"People
in the country would be “happy and satisfied” only when a decent
temple came up at 'Lord Ram’s birthplace' in Ayodhya", Advani said
in Ahmedabad while speaking with the media at Somnath after his
annual visit to the temple there.
Advani has been
visiting the Somnath temple on September 25 every year since 1990.
September 25 is the day when he had launched Ram Janmabhoomi Rath
Yatra in 1990. The Yatra had allegedly resulted in dividing the
nation on communal lines, and finally in demolition of the Babri
Masjid.
Moreover, the
communal riots
in various parts of the country
that
followed
the Babri Masjid demolition had killed
hundreds of people. However, Advani, believes, September 25 is the
day that changed the course of the BJP.
Advani said he wished,
the present government at the Centre adopted the same attitude to
the Ram temple issue, as did the Delhi government to the Somnath
temple soon after Independence. The Delhi government allowed
reconstruction at the same spot where the old temple "plundered by
Muslim invaders".
Saffron leaders
unimpressed
However, Advani's
attempt to impress the saffron leaders by raising the temple issue
once again failed when another visitor to the city, former BJP
leader K.N. Govindacharya, said Advani’s retirement from active
politics was “long overdue.”
Way back in 2005 when
the BJP was celebrating the silver jubilee, he suggested to Advani
that he make a “graceful exit” from public life as did the former
Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
"I
had also suggested Advani that the BJP be disbanded or handed over
to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) for a revamp", said
Govindacharya.
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