JOIN USThe BJP and the RSS were quick to welcome the Supreme Court suggestion for an out-of-court resolution of the Ayodhya dispute, but the Opposition and the Babri Masjid Action Committee were cautious. They favoured a legal settlement of the religious issue.
Yogi Adityanath, the new Uttar Pradesh chief minister who was in the national capital on Tuesday, told reporters that “both sides must sit down and find a solution”.
Former deputy prime minister L K Advani, an accused in the Babri mosque demolition case, had a similar view. All involved in the matter should come to a consensus, he said.
BJP's ideological mentor Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh insisted that it always wanted a settlement outside the court, while the Vishwa Hindu Parishad said the government should bring in legislation to build the Ram temple.
“It is to be decided by the Dharam Sansad, as they are the people who organised the entire Ram Janmabhoomi movement, and the parties who went to the court. The RSS will not decide,’’ RSS joint general secretary Dattatreya Hosabale said in Coimbatore after the three-day meeting of the organisation’s Akhil Bharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha ended.
“The RSS will go by the Dharam Sansad’s decision. The issue should be settled at the earliest and a grand temple should be erected through the involvement of all Indians,” he said.
Babri Masjid Action Committee reiterated its stand that it was for the SC to decide the complex issue since negotiations have failed to thrash out a solution.
“Negotiations have failed earlier. An out-of-court settlement is not possible,” BMAC convener Zafaryab Jilani said.
The Congress was guarded in its response. The opposition party supported either a “consensus-based” solution for ensuring lasting peace, or letting the SC adjudicate the matter on the basis of merit.
“If all stakeholders on both sides can arrive at a mutually acceptable consensus-based solution, it will go a long way in ensuring lasting peace, goodwill, mutual respect and brotherhood. Otherwise, Supreme Court should adjudicate the issue on merit,” Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said.
All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen leader and Lok Sabha MP Asaduddin Owaisi said the apex court should start daily hearings of the matter and “we will get a judgement”.
DH News Service
THE CASE SO FAR
-Mughal emperor Babar allegedly demolished, what the Hindus claim a temple and the place of birth of Lord Rama, and got a mosque built at the site in Ayodhya in 1528.
-The Hindus also claim that several people had lost their lives, when two communities clashed in 1853 on the issue.
-The matter reached the courts in 1885 when a Hindu priest filed an application seeking permission to build a Ram Temple adjacent to the mosque.
-In 1949 the Hindus started worshiping at the place. The idols of Lord Rama, according to the Hindus, were there.
-In 1950 one Gopal Singh Visharad moved the court seeking special permission to perform puja there
-In the same year Mahanat Paramhans Ramchandra Das, a priest from Ayodhya, filed a separate application seeking permission to keep the idols of Ramlala inside the mosque.
-In 1959 the Nirmohi Akhara of the Naga ascetics claimed ownership of the site and moved the court.
-In 1961 the UP Sunni Central Waqf Board also claimed ownership of the site and approached the court.
-Vishwa Hindu Parishad launched a nationwide campaign for building Ram Temple at the disputed site.
-A district court in Faizabad permitted Hindus to worship at the site in 1986. Babri Masjid Action Committee was set-up by Muslims to protest the decision.
-The then prime minister Rajiv Gandhi allowed 'shilanyas' (laying of foundation stone) near the site in 1989.
_On Sep 25, 1990, the then BJP president L K Advani embarked on Rath Yatra from Somnath to Ayodhya. Clashes break out. Advani arrested in Bihar.
_In 1991 the Kalyan Singh-led BJP government acquired 2.77 acre of the disputed land at the site.
_A large mob of Karsevaks demolished Babri Mosque on December 6, 1992. Riots break out in country. A makeshift Ram Temple comes up at the site.
_A special Lucknow bench of Allahabad High Court begins hearing the Ramjanmabhoomi-Babri Mosque title suits.
-On the direction of the court the ASI excavated the site in 2003 and submitted report with the court.
-On Sep 30, 2010, the high court delivers judgement. It divided the site between Nirmohi Akhara and the Waqf Board.
-On May 9, 2011 Supreme Court stays high court judgement