Hyderabad: BJP leader, founder-president of Bajrang Dal, Vinay Katiyar who was an extensive part of the Ayodhya Ram Janmabhoomi movement is ecstatic that finally, the devotees will be able to have Ram darshan in the majestic temple, the foundation of which is all set to be laid by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi on August 5.
The 65-year-old leader in an exclusive interview to ETV Bharat reminisced about the 1990s - days of the Ayodhya movement and said, despite facing lathi blows and bullets, the kar sevaks - a term used for volunteers affiliated to the right-wing Hindu nationalist organisation Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) kept fighting and did not stop even after the streets turned bloody due to the clashes.
"The Sarayu river had turned bloody as Mulayam Singh Yadav, the then-Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh had ordered firing on the devotees of Lord Ram. He will be remembered as a murderer in history for this," Katiyar said.
He added that Atal Behari Vajpayee had initially proposed to give 40 acres of land to the Muslims which they rejected, after which the movement went on for decades.
"However, whatever the Supreme court gave them for mosque and us (Kar sevaks) for the temple, we are happy with that," he said.
