New Delhi, March 23
The Shankaracharya of Puri, Nishchalanand Saraswati, today suggested that political parties, including the BJP and the Congress, should make a joint initiative to pave the path for the construction of an imposing Ram temple at the birthplace of Lord Rama.

Talking to newspersons, the Shankaracharya felt that a solution to the long-standing dispute lay outside the court and urged Muslims to show their “brotherhood” by sacrificing their adamant attitude on the temple issue, in recognition of the strong feelings of Hindus towards Ayodhya.

The 145th Shankaracharya of Puri, who has a penchant for sharp political remarks, has come forward with his proposal as he had failed to get into media attention in the past weeks and Jagadguru Shankaracharya of Kamakoti Peetham Jayendra Saraswati was in media glare, knowledgeable sources pointed out.

At the same time, the Shankaracharya demanded an action from the Central Government against those impersonating as Shankaracharyas, without any legal or religious recognition. Such people only complicate the issue further.

He said there were about 60 fraud Shankaracharyas, including Adhokshajanand, who claimed to be the head of Puri “peeth”. They were cheating the general public through false propaganda.

He said if no action was taken in this regard within a week, he would approach the Supreme Court to get a decree.

Making light of the role of courts in this issue, the Puri seer said: “The court proceedings is a time-consuming one and even if a judgement comes, it is very unlikely that the ruling would be accepted by any of the two communities... Hence if a solution to the problem is to be found, it has to be done through a negotiated settlement.”

The seer, however, declared that anything less than a Ram temple at the place of birth of Lord Ram would not be acceptable to the Hindus.