Mandir wahin Banayenge played in the background at Bairagi Akhada. And it's just a formality before the sammelan endorses the VHP governing council's resolution diversifying its activities in other areas such as stalling the construction of the Tehri dam, packing off Christian and Islamic missionaries and seeking a ban on cow slaughter but remaining vague regarding the time frame for the Ram temple.

Ram Chandra Das Paramhans, chairman of the Ramjanambhoomi trust, shed his 15-year-long hard line on the issue: "L K Advani is the first Home Minister in India to have come to Hardwar to wash our feet. He will follow us". On the Tehri issue, however, he was more hawkish: "If the government goes ahead with the Tehri dam Project, I will do to it what I did to the Masjid on December 6, 1992," he said.Incidentally, Sunder Lal Bahuguna, the Chipko leader was in favour of a joint movement with the VHP on the issue. Ramanand Das, another hardliner on the temple, said, "We have the limitation of a coalition government. But when we elect the BJP with a two-thirds majority, we will get the temple built," he said.