If not the Ram temple itself, build a replica in Ayodhya instead, a group of Hindu ideologues are believed to have told the ministry of culture. And the government, it is learnt, is obliging with plans for a sprawling Ram Rajya centre that will include not just a temple mock-up but also the history of the Ramayana through the ages.
Plans are being drawn and research work being allotted to agencies and individuals. To avoid any political controversies, the government is likely to make the official announcement after assembly elections in Bihar, said a ministry source.
Expected to come up on 200 acres of land in the Uttar Pradesh temple town, the Ram Rajya centre will bring together over a hundred versions of the Ramayana and the Ramlila as it unfolds in various parts of the country as well as a research centre. It will take a visitor through the entire history of the epic, an official said.
The Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA) has been assigned the task of documenting the various folklores. “Countries like Indonesia, Malaysia, Russia and Sri Lanka and Bali also have their own versions of the Ramayana and Ramlila. The idea is to document all of them and to put it up for display at the Ayodhya site,” the official added.
Estimated to cost about Rs 300 crore, funds for the project will be granted from the next financial year. “There are 60 identified sites of Ramayana history dating back to 5114 BC. We have collected scientific evidence of their existence. This history should be showcased,” said Saroj Bala of the Institute of Scientific Research on Vedas. The ministry also plans to make Ayodhya the main centre of a Ram circuit that will link to other prominent sites where incidents from the Ramayana are believed to have taken place.
Part of the plan, for instance, is to connect Ayodhya with Janakpurdham in Nepal, said to be the birthplace of Sita. Nitin Gadkari, minister for road transport and highways, has already announced construction of the Ram Janki Highway that will connect Ayodhya to Janakpurdham. “Besides its religious importance, the highway is also of strategic and diplomatic importance to the Indo-Nepal relationship,” an official said.
The ministries of culture and road transport and highways have had two meetings to fine tune the plan. The Rs 2,000 crore project will connect the route that Lord Ram took from Janakpurdham after marrying Sita. Villages that date back to Ramayana history will be linked on the route. The circuit will run up to Rameshwaram and include sites like Chitrakoot in Madhya Pradesh and Dandak Van in Jagdalpur, Chhattisgarh, the route which Ram is believed to have taken while going to exile. He is believed to have spent 11 of his 14 years in exile in Dandak Van.
Moves to build the Ram Rajya centre are a sign that the temple issue continues to be a preoccupation for the government, under sustained pressure from the Hindu rightwing lobby to do something. On Wednesday, for instance, Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader Ashok Singhal was reported to have said in Lucknow in the presence of Union home minister Rajnath Singh that the Muslim community must “hand over” the towns of Mathura, Kashi and Ayodhya.