What is the point of contention around the Bodh Gaya temple?

• Buddhist monks, under the All India Buddhist Forum (AIBF), have been protesting at the Bodh Gaya’s Mahabodhi Temple (Mahavihara) since February.

• The AIBF has submitted a memorandum to the Bihar government, requesting the repeal of the Bodh Gaya Temple Act (BTA), 1949.

• The BTA established an eight-member management committee with equal representation of Buddhists and Hindus.

• The Act made the local district magistrate an ex-officio chairperson, resulting in a Hindu majority on the committee.

• The BTA was passed by the Bihar government to resolve a dispute between the Buddhist and Hindu heads of the Mahabodhi temple.

• The BTA was passed to resolve a dispute between the Buddhist and Hindu heads of the temple for control over the temple.

• The government intervened in the dispute by amending the rule in 2013 to allow the ex-officio chairman to be of any faith.

• In the early 1990s, the Chief Minister of Bihar Lalu Prasad Yadav drafted the Bodh Gaya Mahvihara Bill to replace the BTA, which prohibited idol immersions near the temple and Hindu marriages inside the temple.