Construction of Ram temple will be the beginning of a new India: RSS

nNEW DELHI: The construction of a Ram Temple in Ayodhya is not the last mile, but the beginning of a new India, said RSS‘S general secretary, Suresh Bhaiyyaji Joshi, on Saturday.

Days ahead of the August 5 ground breaking ceremony of the Ram temple in Uttar Pradesh’s Ayodhya town, Joshi said the construction marked the completion of one part of the struggle.

“It is the new beginning of a new era. The Hindu samaj (society) wants to give a message of human welfare to the world. We should not remain meek, but should be powerful and the temple construction will mark the beginning of that,” he said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, Joshi and a host of other Sangh leaders are expected to attend the ground-breaking ceremony.

The RSS, considered the ideological fount of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, and its frontal organisation, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, were at the forefront of the Ramjanmabhoomi movement that pushed for the construction of a Temple at the site where the Babri Masjid stood before its demolition in 1992.

The RSS functionary said the struggle was not for the construction of just another place of worship as there are hundreds of temples across India.

“Our ambition was not to add one more temple in the list. It is not completely true to see it only as a centre for religious faith…when we think of this temple there are other things that have to be taken into account. Lord Rama lived life as a man of principles and he was considered Maryada Purushottam. Therefore, his ideals and principles and his administration as a ruler will serve as an inspiration,” he said.

Joshi also said the issue of national pride is also associated with the temple. “All those who attacked India left something behind and it pains us to see monuments and other buildings left behind by them,” he said.

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All those who attacked India left something behind and it pains us to see monuments and other buildings left behind by them

SURESH BHAIYYAJI JOSHI, RSS general secretary