Recently, Union minister Rajnath Singh said a lack of majority in Parliament's Upper House is coming in the way of passing a legislation for the temple building.
Work has started again at the Ram Mandir workshop in Ayodhya as two trucks of stones arrived in the temple city on Sunday after a gap of almost eight years.
Four years ago, work had stopped on the project. Now workers are busy carving out pictures for the temple walls. Workshop supervisor Nagendra Upadhyay said, "Around 300 workers are available on call to step up work on the temple if need be".
While locals question the VHP's move, alleging that stones have already been provided for the temple construction, the group claims it wasn't possible to bring the stones earlier as they had no funds.
Some are also questioning the timing, asking why work starts only at the time of elections.
For Instance, prior to the assembly elections in 2002, the VHP started the '
Shila Pujan Abhiyan', before the 2004 Lok Sabha elections, the '
Ayodhya chalo abhiyan' was held.
Ahead of the 2007 Assembly elections, there was the "
Ram pratima pujan abhiyaan" and in case of the 2012 Assembly elections, it was the '
Ayodhya mai rashtreey sant sammelan'. Last year, before the general elections, the "
84 kosi parikrama" was held.
The building of the temple was on the BJP's list of promises ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.
But opposition leaders like Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar have already taken a dig at the BJP, saying raking up the issue this time was the party's way of whipping up passions ahead of assembly elections, since "the temple can be built only by taking all parties along".
Recently, Union minister Rajnath Singh said a lack of majority in Parliament's Upper House is coming in the way of passing a legislation for the temple building. A case on division of land at the disputed site is pending at the top court.
In the run-up to December 6, the 23rd anniversary of the Babri Masjid demolition, Mohan Bhagwat - the chief of BJP's ideological mentor Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh - had said the temple will be built in his lifetime. BJP ally Shiv Sena took a dig at him, saying he should now announce a date for its start.