AYODHYA, July 3: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president, L K Advani, today pledged to construct a grand temple, devoted to Lord Ram, in place of the present makeshift temple at Ayodhya, as his Swarna Jayanti rath yatra moved towards the temple town from the Bihar border.Gradually amending his speeches to suit the change in audience and venue, Advani and his entourage comprising party vice president Kalyan Singh, Uma Bharati, local MP, Vinay Katiyar, Govindancharya and State BJP chief, Rajnath Singh refocussed only on Ram temple issue.In a bid to bring the Ayodhya issue to the centrestage of politics,, the BJP president termed Ayodhya movement as the greatest public movement since Independence.``A temple already exists at Ram Janmabhoomi but we will not rest in peace until a grand structure is erected here,'' he declared.Making his intentions clear, Advani said construction of a grand temple would not be possible at Ram Janmabhoomi in Ayodhya until there were BJP governments both in UP and the Centre.He termed the news of kar sevaks unfurling the saffron flag at the disputed structure at Ayodhya on October 30, 1990 as the ``most pleasing moment'' of his life.``The Bihar Chief Minister by arresting me at Samastipur during Ram Rathyatra in 1990 had tried to check the temple movement but he was proved wrong. Kar sevaks also belied the then UP chief minister's claim that ``not even birds could dare to come near the disputed shrine'' Advani said.
