Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister (CM) Yogi Adityanath has assured Hindu priests that a Ram temple will soon be built in Ayodhya, ANI has reported. Prior to the meeting, Mahant Suresh Das had said that not taking the Ram mandir issue seriously could have ramifications for the BJP in the general elections in 2019.

"We had a dialogue with the Chief Minister (Adityanath) about the development of Ram temple and he has assured us that it will be constructed soon,” he said.

The priests, who had been fairly annoyed with the BJP governments at the Centre and the state for not taking the temple issue seriously, seemed happy after the meeting with the CM. They said the CM had assured them regarding both, the construction of the temple as well as the development of Ayodhya. However, he had told them everyone would have to wait for the decision of the Supreme Court.

In another development, Amar Ujala reported that a group of representatives of the Uttar Pradesh Central Waqf Board and the Hindu supporter groups had sought a meeting for the construction of the temple with Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi. Reportedly, chairman of the Shia Waqf Board, Syed Waseem Rizvi, had written to the PM on Wednesday (6 June), in which he mentioned that though the BJP government had fulfilled its responsibility in the last four years vis a vis development, yet the important issue of construction of the Ram temple remained unsolved.

He regretted the fact that owing to the fanatic approach of certain Muslims, the faith of 80 crore Hindus was entangled in courts. He said the Shia Waqf Board wanted a solution to this issue. He said an agreement had been reached between the board and the Hindu supporters, and it has been decided that the temple should be constructed in Ayodhya and an “Aman Masjid” be built at Lucknow.

The Supreme Court on 17 May had adjourned the Ayodhya-Babri Masjid land dispute case, with the next hearing being scheduled for after the summer vacation. The court had earlier dismissed all the 32 intervention petitions, including applications of filmmakers Shyam Benegal and Aparna Sen, and journalist Teesta Setalvad, in the case.