New Delhi, Jan. 9: Chants of "Jai Sri Ram" rang out in a packed Delhi University hall as BJP leader Subramanian Swamy cited an episode from the Ramayan to justify the demand for a temple in Ayodhya.
Swamy, addressing a controversial seminar in the varsity today, said Ram did the right thing when he shot Bali from behind as the Kishkindha king wrestled with his younger brother Sugriva.
The seminar, organised by Vishwa Hindu Parishad-affiliate Arundhati Vashishtha Anusandhan Peeth (AVAP) in Delhi University, also revived a VHP demand for extending the areas now occupied by the Krishna temple in Mathura and the Kashi Vishwanath temple in Varanasi by removing mosques from these sites.
"About 40,000 temples have been demolished in the country. We do not want all of them to come up. But there cannot be any compromise on three temples. They are the Ram temple in Ayodhya, Krishna temple in Mathura and the Kashi Vishwanath temple," Swamy said.
"When Bali asked (Ram) whether it was morally correct to attack him from behind when he was fighting with his brother Sugriva, Ram questioned Bali's moral authority and said you have no right to ask about my morality," Swamy told the seminar.
According to the Ramayan, Bali had been ill-treating Sugriva, whose army later helped Ram in his fight against Ravan.
"People with values and morality have the right to question others' morality. Today, those who are protesting against us, they have no moral right to do so," Swamy said.
Swamy said the construction of a Ram temple in Ayodhya was the last wish of the late VHP chief Ashok Singhal, who passed away in November.
The proposed site for the temple has been at the centre of a long legal tussle since a mob demolished the Babri mosque in December 1992 and installed an idol of Ram Lalla (infant Ram) at a makeshift shrine. The matter is now pending in the Supreme Court.
In its 2014 election manifesto, the BJP had said it would "explore all possibilities within the framework of the Constitution to facilitate the construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya".
Swamy hoped that the Supreme Court's judgment would be in favour of constructing the temple.
Several student bodies demonstrated in front of the arts faculty in protest, terming the seminar a non-academic activity organised by an outfit that had a "clear design and preconceived ideas about the outcome of such an exercise".
In a statement, the Congress's student wing NSUI said the government was using educational institutions for the purpose of dividing the country on communal lines.
