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Vinay Katiyar, BJP Member of Parliament from Faizabad and chief of the Bajrang Dal, on Friday said that devotees entering the sanctum sanctorum of the makeshift Ram temple in Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh was nothing new and that they had been doing it for several years now.
On Wednesday, Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leaders triggered a minor crisis when they forced their way into the sanctum sanctorum and insisted on conducting puja (rituals) defying Supreme Court orders.
Katiyar justified VHP leader Ashok Singhal and others 'storming' the temple in violation of a Supreme Court stay order, which seeks to maintain status quo at the disputed site.
Under the court order of 1993, devotees are barred from getting closer than 15 metres of the sanctum sanctorum.
Katiyar insisted that the Supreme Court order prevents new construction on the disputed land, but does not prohibit anyone from performing puja.
"In this particular case, there was some misunderstanding with the administration, which resulted in the issue being blown up," he said.
Katiyar claimed that devotees celebrating Ram Prakrutosva (festival of nature) in January invariably enter the sanctum sanctorum and this practice had not been discontinued even after the Babri masjid demolition incident on December six, 1992.
The Bajrang Dal leader's contention was that this does not in any way contradict the Supreme Court's order to maintain 'status quo' at the site.
"Muslims pray even in planes. But that does not mean that they own them," was his argument.
Katiyar maintained that 'Wednesday's episode will have no bearing on Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's efforts to find a peaceful solution to the dispute by March next year'.
"Muslims themselves will come forward and help us build the temple. Courts of the land cannot solve problems like the Ayodhya controversy," he said.
Meanwhile, the UP government on Saturday did not rule out filing of more FIRs or including more penal sections in the already-lodged complaint against VHP leaders who had stormed the make-shift temple.
"More FIRs can be lodged or more sections of law included in the existing FIR if found necessary after getting the report of the Assistant Director General (Intelligence) Himanshu Kumar, who is probing into the incident," Principal Home Secretary Naresh Dayal told reporters.
The ADG has completed his investigations and would submit his report to the government tomorrow, he said.
Dayal admitted that there was delay in registering of case against the VHP leaders and said the ADG has covered this point also in his investigation.
RELATED REPORTS: FIR registered against top VHP leaders: PTI Advani disapproves of VHP action in Ayodhya Babri mosque was a 450-year old stigma: Giriraj Kishore
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