Government offers to give back same site to rebuild Ravidas temple

NEW DELHI: Yielding to the protests against the Supreme Court-directed demolition of a Guru Ravidas temple in south Delhi, the Centre has agreed to allot the same site to the devotees to construct a new temple.
Attorney General KK Venugopal, who was asked by the Supreme Court to come up with an amicable solution after consultations with all the stake-holders, told a bench of Justices Arun Mishra and S Ravindra Bhat on Friday that the Central government had agreed to allow construction of temple at the same site.
Taking the proposal of the attorney general on record, the bench said that it would pass the order after hearing the two petitioners who are against the proposal and posted the case for hearing on October 21.
The Delhi Development Authority had demolished the temple on the orders of the apex court, which had on April 4 dismissed the appeal of Guru Ravidas Jayanti Samaroh Samiti challenging the Delhi high court verdict and directed it to vacate the land and shift the temple to an adjacent area. The SC passed the order as the temple was built on forest land.
The demolition triggered widespread protests from a section of Dalits. Although there were strong doubts regarding the claim about the temple being several centuries old, the agitation instantly received support from opposition parties. Anxious not to antagonise Dalits, BJP also quickly jumped onto the bandwagon, enhancing the prospects of the reconstruction of the temple before Delhi assembly polls scheduled early next year.
The apex court also relaxed its stance as it agreed to hear the plea of the devotees who had sought re-examination of its order.
We will do the best that we can do. You can find out better land and better location for construction of the temple. Find out solution and come back to us. We are not averse to any solution. We respect the sentiments of everyone on earth. Come up with some solution and we will pass order," the court had said on October 4.
Placing his proposal before the bench, Venugopal said the Centre agreed to his suggestion to ensure peace and harmony as sentiments of devotees were hurt because of the temple's demolition. "I held long discussions with all parties including government officials. The government has agreed to offer 200 sq meter of the land to a committee of devotees. Entire land is forest area and it cannot be used for other purpose. But devotees' faith is in a particular site so we are giving the same site. We are making this proposal to the court so that peace and harmony prevails. After considering the sentiments and faith of devotees, the government has taken the decision," Venugopal told the bench.