Ram temple trust invites PM to lay foundation stone on Aug 3 or 5

The Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teertha Kshetra Trust has invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi to lay the foundation stone of a grand Ram Temple in Ayodhya either on August 3 or 5, both auspicious dates, a spokesperson said on Saturday.

The prime minister had announced the formation of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teertha Kshetra Trust on February 5.

Mahant Kamal Nayan Das, the spokesperson of Trust's president Nritya Gopal Das said, "We have suggested two auspicious dates -- August 3 and 5 -- for the prime minister's visit based on calculations of movements of stars and planets."

After a protracted legal tussle, the Supreme Court had on November 9 last year paved the way for the construction of a Ram Temple by a Trust at the disputed site in 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 decision about the tentative date for laying the foundation stone of the temple was taken at a meeting of the Trust members held in Ayodhya on Saturday.

Senior advocate K Parasaran, Vasudevanand Saraswati and Swami Vishwa Prasanjeet attended the meeting via video links.

General Secretary of the Trust Champat Rai said soon after the monsoon, the Ram temple trust will contact 10 crore families across the country for financial help and it will take three to three-and-half years after the finalisation of the temple's design to complete its construction.

At the meeting, the issue of the height of the Ram Mandir was discussed. The temple's height would be 161 feet and have five domes, said Kameshwar Chaupal, a member of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teertha Kshetra Trust.

The meeting of the Trust was also attended by Nripendra Mishra, the former principal secretary to Prime Minister Modi and the chairman of the construction committee of Ram Mandir, and Avaneesh Awasthi, the principal secretary to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Aadityanath.

In a bid to put an end to the more than a century-old dispute that has torn the social fabric of the nation, the supreme court in a unanimous 5-0 verdict ruled that the 2.77 acres of disputed land where the demolished Babri Masjid once stood will remain with a Central government receiver and be handed over to a Trust within three months for the construction of the temple.