New Delhi: Amid the growing demand from the RSS-led Sangh Parivar for an ordinance for the construction of the Ram Mandir at the disputed site in Ayodhya, especially after the Supreme Court postponed the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid land dispute case to January, RSS thinker and BJP Rajya Sabha member Rakesh Sinha said on Thursday that he will bring a private member’s bill seeking construction of the temple. Mr Sinha also asked if the Opposition leaders, including Congress president Rahul Gandhi, will support such a bill. NDA partner Shiv Sena said it would support the bill but sought the date when the temple construction would start, while the Congress attacked the BJP for misusing the issue in the election season.

The entire saffron brigade — from RSS supremo Mohan Bhagwat to the VHP to BJP leaders like Union ministers Uma Bharti and Giriraj Singh to Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath — have been demanding an early resolution of the sub judice matter. After the court postponed the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid land case to the first week of January, when an appropriate bench will decide the schedule of hearing, the VHP asserted that “justice delayed is justice denied” and threatened to intensify its temple campaign. The RSS has also urged the Narendra Modi government to acquire the disputed land and hand it over for the construction of the temple.

In a series of tweets, Rajya Sabha MP Rakesh Sinha asked if leaders like Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, BSP supremo Mayawati, CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury and TDP president N. Chandrababu Naidu, who kept asking the BJP and the RSS about the temple construction, will support his bill.

“Will Rahul Gandhi, Sitaram Yechury, Akhilesh Yadav, Mayawati and Lalu Prasad Yadav support the private member’s bill on Ayodhya? They frequently ask the date (of Ram temple construction) from the RSS and BJP, now the onus is on them to answer,” he tweeted, and said he was asking a clearcut question as it was now time to separate truth from lies.

Mr Sinha said the Ram temple issue was not a priority for the Supreme Court, and asked how many days the court had taken to give a verdict on Article 377, the Sabarimala issue and jallikattu. “But the Ram temple is a top priority for Hindu society,” he declared.

Accusing the BJP of trying to rake up the issue to create a rift between Hindus and Muslims before the Lok Sabha polls, Congress leader R. Roshan Baig said: “Due to the Parliament elections they want to come out with an ordinance. They want to create a rift between Hindus and Muslims. Due to the rise in petrol prices, GST and demonetisation, people are unhappy, so they want to rake up this Ram Mandir issue.”