Union minister Giriraj Singh waded into a new controversy on Monday with his warning that Hindus were losing patience with the delay in the construction of a Ram Temple in Ayodhya.

“Ab Hinduon ka sabr toot raha hai. Mujhe bhay hai ki Hinduon ka sabr tuta toh kya hoga (Hindus are losing patience now. I am afraid of what would follow),” the Minister of State for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises was quoting as saying by ANI.

Giriraj Singh’s comments came just ahead of the Supreme Court’s decision to adjourn Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid land dispute cases till the first week of January. A three-judge bench, headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, said the appropriate bench will decide the future course of hearing in January next year on the appeals filed against the Allahabad High Court verdict in the Ayodhya land dispute case.

As the court case spills into 2019, an election year, there have been calls from Right-wing groups, including the RSS and the VHP, to take the ordinance route. AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi on Monday dared the BJP government to bring an ordinance.

“Why don't they bring it? Let them do it. Every time they threaten that they will bring an ordinance. Every Tom, Dick and Harry from the BJP, RSS and VHP says this. Do it. You are in power. I challenge you to do it. Let us see…” he said.

As many as 14 appeals have been filed against the Allahabad High Court judgment, delivered in four civil suits, that the 2.77 acres of land be partitioned equally among three parties — the Sunni Waqf Board, the Nirmohi Akhara and Ram Lalla.

On September 27, the apex court had declined to refer to a five-judge constitution bench the issue of reconsideration of the observations in its 1994 judgment that a mosque was not integral to Islam which had arisen during the hearing of the Ayodhya land dispute.

In a majority verdict of 2:1, a three-judge bench headed by then chief justice Dipak Misra had said the civil suit has to be decided on the basis of evidence and the previous verdict has no relevance to this issue.