One of the 15 trustees in the temple trust tasked to build the Ram Temple in Ayodhya will always be from the Dalit community, announced Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday.
“There will be 15 trustees in Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust out of which one trustee will always be from Dalit society. For such an unprecedented decision that strengthens social harmony, many many congratulations to Prime Minister @narendramodi Ji,” tweeted the Home Minster.
श्री राम जन्मभूमि तीर्थ क्षेत्र ट्रस्ट में 15 ट्रस्टी होंगे जिसमें से एक ट्रस्टी हमेशा दलित समाज से रहेगा। सामाजिक सौहार्द को मजबूत करने वाले ऐसे अभूतपूर्व निर्णय के लिए मैं प्रधानमंत्री श्री @narendramodi जी को अनेक अनेक बधाई देता हूँ।
— Amit Shah (@AmitShah) February 5, 2020
The Centre has also decided to transfer the 67.703 acre of land to the trust.
A short while before, speaking in the Lok Sabha, the PM announced the government’s decision to set up a temple trust to build the Ram temple at Ayodhya
“I am happy to share with my fellow Indians that important decisions have been taken with regard to Ram Janmabhoomi. These are in line with the verdict of the Honourable Supreme Court of India,” said the PM.
The trust, to be called ‘Sri Ram Janmabhoomi Tirath Kshetra’, will be empowered to take all decisions related to building a grand temple at Lord Ram’s birthplace and related matters, said the PM. The PM’s announcement comes four days before the three -month deadline fixed by the Supreme Court to set-up the trust ends.
“I have come before you to give information on a very important and historic topic. This issue, like crores of people, is close to my heart and consider it my fortune to speak about this topic. This is connected to Ram Janamsthan Bhoomi and the construction of a grand temple at Ayodhya,” said the PM.
PM Modi also announced that the Uttar Pradesh government had agreed to give five acre land to the Sunni Waqf Board as directed by the Supreme Court in the Ayodhya case.
The Supreme Court had on November 9, 2019, ruled in favour of the construction if Ram Temple at the disputed site, bringing an end to decades-old litigation over 2.77 acre plot that over the years became a politically sensitive dispute. The judgment came on 15 appeals filed against the Allahabad high court verdict dividing the property into three equal parts.
PM Modi praised the “people of India” for displaying “remarkable faith in democratic processes and procedure.”
In his address Modi emphasised on Indian ethos and spoke of how the citizens were members of one family. The prime minister urged “all to work in the direction of building a grand Ram Mandir.”