Shaping an agenda

quot;Mandir to ban ke hi rahega. Koi kuch nahin kar sakta,quot; asserts Gautam Pandit, theVHP8217;s Zila Sangathan Mantri at Abu Road. Pandit also lets out that the work has been going on since the last three years. Maybe more. Interestingly, Pandit says that pace of the mandir work at the three sites has increased since the BJP government came to power at the Centre. Ashok Singhal has already visited the sites twice after inaugurating it formally on January 26, 1996. quot;We would like to see the temple erected while this government is in power,quot; he hopes.

Work on the mandir is being done according to the design prepared by Ahmedabad-based architect C.P. Sompura who has in mind a 128-ft tall, 260-ft long and 140-ft wide temple at the disputed site. And the VHP sees to it that everything is running smoothly as far as construction of the pre-fabricated temple structure at Sirohi goes 8212; no matter what the quot;costquot;.

quot;One pillar costs around Rs 3 lakh,quot; says Naresh Lohar of Mahadev Shilp Kala Kendra at Ajari. And this is when the temple is slated to have nearly 200 such pillars! This too is apartfrom the raw materials 8212; truck loads of sandstone being transported from Bansi Paharpur in UP, Dhaulpur and Bharatpur in Rajashan. Moreover, 30 truck loads of sandstone translate into just ten 18-ft pillars.

Costs, however, don8217;t seem to be a deterrent for the VHP. Rameshchandra V. Sompura of Sompura Marble Industries amp; Temple Works at Sirohi Road, while revealing that the plinth has already been done in Ayodhya says that the temple will not come up for anything less than Rs 40 crore. quot;It will be double the amount, I tell you,quot; says Sompura who is not too happy with the pace. quot;It will take 50 years.quot; Peeved that the raw materials are taking far too long to come in, he adds: quot;They may want to hasten the project but there seems to be something we don8217;t really understand.quot;

Others have the same thing to say. Though work has been going on at a steady pace the Parivar seems to have been carefully weighing its options. Not hurrying the inflammable project unduly.

Meanwhile, not one of the temple builders canconvincingly reply when asked about the tentative date by which time the temple should be ready. quot;We don8217;t know,quot; they say almost in unison. quot;It all depends on them.quot;

Naresh Lohar fares slightly better. quot;Ashok Singhal said you don8217;t worry about the temple construction. We will stock all the material until there is not a stone left to be carved. Then we will build the temple.quot; But how?

Naresh replies: quot;Singhalji said first we will start a dhamaal frenzy on one side and then build the temple on the other8217;.quot;

The cynicism about time of the builders apart, they are sure the temple will come up quot;one dayquot;. Meanwhile, the finished products that are transported to Ayodhya by truck from Sirohi are kept in a workshop at Karsevakpuram at Ayodhya, a walking distance away from the disputed site.

quot;Once this job is done the temple itself will come up in no time,quot; says Kasturmal P. Malvi of Bharat Shilp Kala Kendra, Kojra village, while proudly displaying photographs of Ashok Singhal doing the bhoomipujan at his work site.

Asked if he has had any problems, financial or otherwise, he answers confidently: quot;Ayodhyawale paise de jaatein hain. They come every once in a while.quot;

Reiterating the same point albeit with a lot of jingoism thrown in Pandit pronounces, quot;Rukawat kabhi nahi thi. Not during the Congress rule, not during the UF rule and not during the BJP rule. Everyone knew what was happening. No one has even attempted to stop us.quot; Irrespective of the pace of construction, he is hopeful that the temple will definitely come up some time next year. quot;The mandir will be seen there as soon as the Government gives us back the land it seized from us.quot;

So some things cannot be hidden after all. Agenda or no agenda.