Ram temple dispute: RSS' 10-day Sankalp Rath Yatra starts today, to culminate at Delhi's Ramlila Maidan on 9 December

The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) on Saturday will start a 10-day ‘Sankalp Rath Yatra’ in Delhi, demanding an ordinance for the construction of Ram Mandir in Ayodhya. The RSS rath yatra aims to push for a decision on the construction of the temple at the disputed site ahead of the Supreme Court hearing, which is likely to begin in January 2019. [caption id=“attachment_5221431” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat. PTI[/caption] The yatra will include all RSS affiliates and will be spearheaded by Swadeshi Jagran Manch (SJM), the economic wing of the Sangh. The 10-day rath yatra will start on Saturday from Jhandewala Mandir, a few metres from RSS’s Delhi headquarters, and culminate on 9 December at Ramlila Maidan in the National Capital. The RSS has divided Delhi into 8 regions and will visit a different region every day. “We are part of the family and we stand with our family. We are taking out this rath yatra to press for Ram Mandir. It will kick off at 11.30 am from Jhandewalan Mandir. It will be flagged-off by Delhi Prant Sanghchalak Kulbhushan Ahuja,” SJM leader Sushil Panchak told Financial Express. The development comes days after the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP)’s massive rally in Ayodhya, which was attended by nearly 2.85 lakh people. The party has also planned an event in Delhi on 9 December, and has booked around 10,000 buses to ferry people from Meerut, Braj and Haryana. As many as 5 lakh people are expected to attend the Dharma Sabha. The Supreme Court had previously deferred the politically sensitive matter to the first week of January, refusing to accord an urgent hearing on the Ayodhya land dispute case. The apex court order has triggered a chorus of demands from within the BJP and various Sangh Parivar outfits for promulgating an ordinance, or enacting a law in the Winter Session of the Parliament, to build the Ram temple before the 2019 Lok Sabha polls without waiting for the verdict. With inputs from PTI