text: In 1995, Sharma dedicated to the Indian people the reconstructed Somnath temple in Gujarat. At the dedication ceremony, Sharma stated that all religions taught the same lesson of unity and placed humanism above all else. The construction of the temple had lasted for fifty years. Questions about its financing, the role of the state in its reconstruction and the presence of constitutional functionaries during the installation of the idol had been marked by debates on secularism in the years following India's independence. The same year, even as the Narasimha Rao government dithered on acting against Sheila Kaul, the governor of Himachal Pradesh, after the Supreme Court expressed its concern that she was using her gubernatorial immunity to avoid criminal proceedings, Sharma forced the government to get her to resign immediately.
  Sharma largely enjoyed cordial ties with Narasimha Rao government. In 1996, however, two ordinances sent to him by the Rao government seeking to extend the benefits of reservations in state employment and education for Christian and Muslim Dalits and to reduce the time allowed for campaigning in elections, were returned by Sharma on the grounds that elections were imminent and therefore such decisions should be left to the incoming government.
  Vajpayee government (16 May 1996 – 28 May 1996)