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Ayodhya site must be preserved: Dwarka Shankaracharya

Leaders of the Ramalaya Trust met in Ayodhya on Sunday and said they were against any kind of construction at the disputed site.

"We are neither for temple nor for mosque at the birthplace of Lord Ram and this place must be preserved as such," the trust, run by Swami Swaroopanand Saraswati, the Shankaracharya of Dwarka, said.

This message was conveyed by Swaroopanand's spokesman Anand Swaroop Brahmachari and Sajjan Kumar Saraf, whom the shankaracharya had recently appointed as the head of the Shree Ramjanmbhoomi Purnaudhar Samiti [Lord Ram's Birthplace Renovation Committee].

The two leaders came to set up the committee's new office in Ayodhya, where a small piece of land measuring 80 ft X 40 ft has been a bone of contention between the Hindus and Muslims for centuries.

"While he [Swaroopanand] is not against the temple, the Dwarka shankaracharya has always held the view that the temple should only be built amicably and with the consent of the rival community," Brahmachari told rediff.com over telephone.

Brahmachari, who was sent to Ayodhya as the shankaracharya's special envoy, said, "Swaroopanandjee feels that Ram cannot be limited to just Hindus -- Ram is the forefather of all those who are born on the Indian spoil, irrespective of their religious faith."

He said, "It would therefore be appropriate to preserve the birthplace of Ram as a landmark, without dragging it in any temple-mosque controversy."

When asked what was Swaroopanand's purpose behind floating a model of the proposed Ram temple, Brahmachari said, "That was done in the hope that people would agree to sink their differences and only if the temple were to be built without any opposition from the Muslims."

"None can stake a more legitimate claim to the disputed site than Swami Swaroopanand," according to him. "While acquiring the disputed land in Ayodhya after the demolition [on December 6, 1992], the central government had declared that this land would not be entrusted to any organisation or trust that existed on or before the demolition. Swami Swaroopanand's Ramalaya Trust came into being only in 1993," he argued.

The Ayodhya Issue: Complete Coverage

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