AYODHYA, DECEMBER 15: The man in charge of the workshop for stone-carving in Ayodhya for the Ram Temple, Nagendra Upadhyaya, is harassed these days. For the first time in seven years, he has been given a specific deadline by the VHP brass - complete 75 per cent of the job by March 31 next year.His options are limited: Recruiting more workers and doubling the shifts. ``Without these steps we cannot achieve the target,'' he says. ``Thehaste is natural because the Dharma Sansad during the Kumbh Mela next month will announce the date for the construction of the temple and we have to be ready.'' Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's statement, the ruling NDA's win in the Lok Sabha, all have lent a new urgency to the job.Two days ago, just a few yards away from the workshop, four trucks offloaded a consignment of carved stones that will be lodged in the sanctum sanctorum of the temple. In the next fortnight, 50 more trucks carrying similar stones are expected to arrive. It's for the first time that ready-to-be-installed stones have been sent to Ayodhya from the VHP's workshop in Rajasthan for the room where the existing idol of Lord Rama will be installed.The temple, a replica of which has been displayed at the workshop, will have 212 pillars, each engraved with 16 statutes of deities. So far, 106 have been completed, 16 of them in a mad rush during the past fortnight.``A solution of the temple issue in the court appears impossible because itinvolves religious sentiments of crores of Hindus. We are waiting only for the date to be announced and construction will start, regardless of the government in the state or at the Centre,'' claims Mahant Ramchand Paramhans, Chairman of the Shree Ramjanmabhoomi Nyas. ``Temple construction is not on the agenda of the NDA Government but it is the first thing on our agenda and we are bound to go ahead to implement it.''Paramhans was entrusted with the ``construct temple movement'' by the VHP during a meeting of its Kendriya Margdarshak Mandal in Goa. BJP MP Swami Chinmayanand was given the job of mobilising pro-temple MPs within Parliament. Paramhans has decided to form a number of committees which would fan out to mobilise people - besides finding kar sewaks - for construction ofthe temple. ``We do not need the kar sewaks for the construction but only to build up pressure,'' says Prakash.In this frenzy of activity, the makeshift temple is not attracting too many devotees. The multi-layered security ring and the wire fencing deter the devout.Deep Pandey, owner of a cassette shop located on way to the temple, says: ``We have seen enough of all this. Unless our Lord is freed from politics, we cannot have his darshan in a free and fair atmosphere.'' His is a wish that even Ramlalla may not be able to grant.
