Ram Mandir issue: Mahant Paramhans Das, on hunger strike for 7 days, detained in Ayodhya

Ayodhya: Mahant Paramhans Das of Ayodhya's Tapasvi Chavni temple, who has been on hunger strike for last seven days, was detained by police on Sunday late night. He has been reportedly been taken to the hospital.

Several saints from Ayodhya and other parts of the country went on an indefinite fast on October 1, demanding the immediate construction of Ram temple in Ayodhya. 

Earlier on Sunday, Uttar Pradesh cabinet minister Satish Mahana met Swami Paramhans Das, requesting him to break the fast.

Ayodhya: Mahant Paramhans Das who was on a hunger strike for last seven days seeking construction of Ram Temple, has been detained by the police. He is being taken to hospital pic.twitter.com/05BSSn4cCz — ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) October 7, 2018

"I humbly requested Mahant Paramhans to break his fast. I have come here as an emissary of the chief minister. If he wishes to meet the chief minister (Yogi Adityanath) I will discuss it with him and will try to facilitate it tomorrow if required."

Later, Mahant Paramhans said, "Minister Satish Mahana requested me to break the hunger strike. He told me that he will arrange a video-conferencing with UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. I want to request Prime Minister Modi to facilitate construction of Ram Temple through the same route which was taken for construction of Somnath temple."

Last month, the Supreme Court declined to refer to a five-judge constitution bench the issue of reconsideration of the observations in its 1994 judgment that a mosque was not integral to Islam which had arisen during the hearing of the Ayodhya land dispute.

Following the judgement, Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) working president Alok Kumar said that all options to pursue the construction of a Ram temple in Ayodhya, including campaign, are open before the outfit.

On October 6, a delegation of saints associated with the VHP met President Ram Nath Kovind demanding the immediate construction of a grand Ram Temple in Ayodhya. 

Former Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Pravin Togadia Sunday hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat accusing them of not fulfilling the promise of building Ram Temple in Ayodhya.

With agency inputs