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Now Buddhists claim Ayodhya as their own

Demanding that Ayodhya be rechristened as 'Saket', the World Buddhist Council has demanded large-scale excavations at Ayodhya to prove their contention that it was a Buddhist city.

President of Apna Dal, Sone Lal Patel said the council adopted these two resolutions at its two-day conference.

Patel said a Pali Academy would be established on the lines of the Hindi and Urdu academies.

Other resolutions included inviting Buddhist intellectuals from foreign countries, abolition of taxes currently in force in various sacred Buddhist places, establishment of a Buddhist property board like Muslim waqf board and a Buddhist Act on the lines of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Act and rebuilding of dilapidated Buddhist stupas.

Dr Patel said three major Buddhist conferences would be held in the near future at Sarnath, Chitrakoot and Haridwar.

UNI

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