Uddhav Thackeray hails formation of trust for Ram temple construction

Supreme Court

Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Wednesday congratulated Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the Union Cabinet's approval of the formation of a trust to construct a Ram temple in Ayodhya. Modi announced in the Lok Sabha the formation of a trust to construct the temple, as directed by the Supreme Court in its landmark verdict in the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid case in November last year.

Thackeray said the apex court had given a historic decision on the construction of Ram temple in Ayodhya. "It was mandatory for the government to implement the decision. I congratulate Prime Minister Narendra Modi for taking steps to implement the court's decision," Shiv Sena's Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Raut tweeted Thackeray as saying.

Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly Devendra Fadnavis also hailed the Centre's announcement as "historic". "The wait for a grand temple of Lord Ram will be over soon," he tweeted. A permanent provision that one of the 15 trustees will be from the SC (scheduled caste) community shows the inclusive approach of the BJP led government, he said.

Hailing the decision, MNS chief Raj Thackeray hoped the process to construct the temple would be expedited. "The central cabinet has given the go-ahead to form 'Shri Ram Janambhoomi Tirtha Kshetra' assigned in the task building of the Ram Mandir. We thus, expect the process of building the Ram Mandir to be expedited and we wholeheartedly applaud the decision of the entire Cabinet," he tweeted.

The Supreme Court had directed the government to form the trust within three months and the deadline was ending on February 9. Making a statement in the Lok Sabha soon after meeting of the Union Cabinet on Wednesday, Modi said, "We have readied a scheme for the development of Ram temple in Ayodhya. A trust has been formed, it is called 'Shri Ram Janambhoomi Teertha Kshetra."

It has also been decided to transfer 67.703-acre land to the trust, he said, adding that the Uttar Pradesh government has agreed to give five acres of land to the UP Sunni Wakf Board, as directed by the Supreme Court in the Ayodhya matter.

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