Indian Muslims are descendants of Ram, not of Mughal emperor Babur, and should help build the temple in Ayodhya, Union minister Giriraj Singh said on Sunday, according to The Indian Express.

“Hindus and Muslims are from the same lineage,” Singh said, while speaking to journalists in Jodhpur. “Here, no Muslim is a child of Babur. The Muslim here is a child of Ram. We may have different religious methods, but our ancestor is one.”

Referring to the Uttar Pradesh Shia Waqf Board’s offer to resolve the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid dispute – the board proposed to allow the Ram Temple on the disputed Ayodhya land and to have a mosque built in Lucknow – Singh said, “Our Shia brothers are cooperating in this matter, and we expect Sunni Muslims to also come forward,” the Hindustan Times reported.

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Singh, the minister of state for micro, small and medium enterprises, said: “We will put one brick and they will put one brick. If the Ram Temple is not built in India, then where else will it be built – Pakistan?”

Meanwhile, Surendra Kumar Jain, the international joint secretary of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, said the construction of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya will begin on October 18, 2018, News18 reported. “The next Dharma Sansad will be held in Ayodhya,” he said in Udupi in Karnataka.

Two day earlier, at the same event, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat had said no structure other than a Ram Temple will be built at the disputed Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid site in Ayodhya. He told the congregation of 2,000 Hindu saints, mutt heads and leaders of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad that he feels “victory is at hand”.

The comments come days before the Supreme Court is expected to hear 13 petitions challenging the Allahabad High Court verdict on December 5. The High Court had ruled the land should be divided equally among the three parties in the case.