As the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Trust officially announced the date for the consecration ceremony of the Ram Temple, former litigant in the Ayodhya land dispute case, Iqbal Ansari, has raised questions regarding the delay in the construction of the Babri Mosque. In a statement to news agency , Ansari pointed out that while the government has allocated the land for the mosque, the trustees have not acted promptly, resulting in the delay.
Ansari emphasized, “The question is about Ayodhya and the 5 acres of land for the Babri Masjid. The government has allotted the land for the mosque, but the trustees consider it their property, and no work has begun to this day.”
He urged that the trustees responsible for overseeing the mosque’s construction should be closely monitored, and work on the Babri Mosque should commence without further delay. Ansari added, “People raise questions about why the work is getting delayed… People of Ayodhya say that if the trustees had been honest, work would have begun. So, we demand that trustees should be monitored, and the work on the mosque should begin at the earliest. If the trustees are negligent, they should be replaced…”
In 2019, the Supreme Court delivered a landmark verdict to resolve the decades-old Ayodhya land dispute case. The court ruled that the disputed land would be allocated for the Ram Temple and provided a separate 5-acre parcel of land in Ayodhya for the construction of a mosque.
Earlier, on Wednesday, representatives of the temple trust met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and invited him to install the idol of Lord Rama in the sanctum sanctorum of the Ram Temple. The consecration ceremony, known as “Pran Pratishtha,” is scheduled for January 22 next year. The construction of the first floor of the three-story Ram Temple is expected to be completed by the end of December 2023.
