Chandrakant Sompura has either planned, designed, built or renovated over a hundred temples in India and abroad.
Leaders of the Sangh Parivar and the BJP met in Delhi on Thursday morning to sort out the differences.
With Ram temple issue once again coming into focus before 2014 Parliamentary elections through VHP yatra, a BJP sub-committee under the campaign panel headed by Narendra Modi is gathering feed back from people on Ayodhya and other burning issues to gauge "country's mood".
A small step in this direction was taken with making triple talaq a punishable offence in the last Parliament session. But UCC is difficult to implement, reports Archis Mohan.
Here is a timeline of the second-lengthiest case in the apex court history:
Lashing out at Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Pravin Togadia for allegedly targeting a Muslim businessman for buying properties in certain areas, the Aam Aadmi Party on Monday demanded action against the right-wing group leader for "vitiating the peaceful atmosphere" during elections.
From a Vishaw Hindu Parishad platform, Bharatiya Janata Party chief Rajnath Singh on Wednesday raked up the Ayodhya issue saying his party is committed to the construction of the Ram temple.
The VHP leader had been arrested in Ajmer on April 13 for violating a ban on distribution of tridents.
On Sunday, the VHP also asserted it was not in the politics of making the BJP win or the Congress lose elections.
Hindu nationalists in India have stepped up attacks on the country's beef industry, seizing trucks with cattle bound for abattoirs.
'Whether Lord Ram is a historical person is not the subject before the court.' 'The court was asking every time if can anyone show the exact birthplace of Lord Ram on the basis of documents.' 'I have shown that on the basis of documents. And these documents are not (based) on my beliefs.'
The apex court, however, dismissed a PIL filed by NGO, Centre for Public Interest Litigation, seeking a court-monitored fresh probe in the Pandya murder case.
The crisis over the start date of the Amarnath Yatra deepened with the Vishwa Hindu Parishad showing no signs of relenting and a top VHP leader on Tuesday stating that Bharatiya Janata Party leader Uma Bharti will lead a contingent of devotees to the cave shrine on June 3. The board has left sadhus all across India angry by disobeying him, he added.
The seven-member committee consists of four members of Parliament and three leaders from Uttar Pradesh.
Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Praveen Togadia on Tuesday said the welcome of Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari before the extradition of Mumbai terror attack accused Hafiz Saeed was a "matter of shame" and the Centre it seemed was taking it up only as a diplomatic issue.
The 1992 Babri Mosque demolition was an "act of planned sabotage" and not a by frenzied mob of Hindu outfits, a news portal claimed on Friday on the basis of a sting operation it had carried over a period of two years.
Leaders hope the Ayodhya temple ceremony would pave way for harmony.
The Allahabad high court on Thursday directed recording of evidence on a day-to-day basis by the Rae Bareli trial court in the Babri Masjid demolition case, rejecting a plea by a Vishwa Hindu Party leader.
In the past four years, neither the BJP nor the VHP has shown any interest in the mandir or Lord Ram. Now that elections are nearing, it is attempting to whip up communal passions, says Minister of State for Home R P N Singh in an interview to Anita Katyal
Facing ire over his alleged inflammatory speech warning Muslims of a 'final battle', Union Minister of State for Human Resource and Development Ram Shankar Katheria claims he did not make any such comments.
'This is a fascinating side to Sonia Gandhi, the way she disarms her opponents.'
All political parties have appeal for peace and harmony.
Mohan Bhagwat said the temple would be constructed in the same grandeur as it existed before, using the "same stones" under the guidance of those who were the flag-bearers of the Ram Janmabhoomi movement for the last 25 years.
At least 58 persons, most of them belonging to Christian families, embraced Hinduism at two temples in Kerala's Kottayam district under the initiative of Vishwa Hindu Parishad on Christmas day on Thursday.
A day after the Nirmohi Akhara voiced its readiness to cooperate with the Ram Lala Virajman for building a temple in Ayodhya following talks with a Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader, the man who represented the deity in the court said he did not authorise anyone to negotiate on his behalf.
Under attack from Bharatiya Janata Party for his remarks that '2010 is not 1992,' Congress leader Digvijay Singh on Wednesday hit back saying if Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangha, Vishwa Hindu Parishad and BJP behave in a responsible manner after September 30, he will reconsider his statement.
'He couldn't hold himself from chanting 'Siyavar Ramchandra ki Jai'.'
'The BJP's constitution promises allegiance to India's secularism and socialism.' 'This is the oath that it makes all its members sign,' observes Aakar Patel.
Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan appealed to people to boycott products from China and also directed officials of his ministry not to procure any Chinese products for day-to-day office use while his ministerial colleague Ramdas Athawale said all restaurants and hotels that sell Chinese food in India should be closed down.
The SP leader had kicked up a row recently with his comments that "excesses by security forces had led women in some places chopping off the private parts of army men."
'Certainly if Advani had agreed to Vajpayee in sacking Modi, then we would never have been talking of Modi today.'
"It can stay awake till midnight to hear the Yakub Memon case and it can extend the hearing of the Ram Janmabhoomi title case for three months, while crores of Indians wait for it."
Condemning the brutal beheading of two Sikh traders in Pakistan, Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Pravin Togadia, said the issue calls for a war against Pakistan.
'Modi campers are aware that the Sangh may keep a Nitin Gadkari under wraps.' 'He may be pulled out of the hat if push comes to shove and if the Modi-led BJP is unable to deliver a decisive victory.' A revealing excerpt from Kingshuk Nag's new book, Mohan Bhagwat: Influencer-in-Chief.
Muslim groups observed 'day of sorrow' while Hindu outfits celebrated 'shaurya divas' on the 23rd anniversary of Babri mosque demolition on Sunday, which passed off peacefully amid tight security in Ayodhya, as well as in other parts of the country.
'If the Sangh Parivar is actually interested in constructing a Ram temple in Ayodhya why doesn't it do so on the land owned by the VHP?'
Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Pravin Togadia was questioned by Supreme Court-constituted Special Investigation Team, which is probing some cases of 2002 riots, for more than four hours in Gandhinagar on Monday.
Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Pravin Togadia, who was summoned by the Special Investigation Team for questioning in a 2002 Gujarat riot case, failed to appear on Monday before the Supreme Court-constituted agency in Ahmedabad.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances