Ayodhya litigants not on same page over ordinance plan

AYODHYA/LUCKNOW: Litigants of both Hindu and Muslim sides on Monday reacted to the Supreme Court’s decision- that an "appropriate bench" would take up in the first week of January the appeals relating to the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid title suit- saying they would wait for the apex court’s verdict. However, the litigants were divided over the RSS-VHP demand that a law be brought to facilitate the construction of a Ram temple in Ayodhya.

Nirmohi Akhara representative Mahant Dinendra Das said the court will follow its procedure. "Any decision by the government to come up with a law for Ram temple will not be good because the title of the land belongs to Nirmohi Akhara and we will get back our land through court verdict only," he said.

Another litigant Triloki Nath Pandey, who represents 'Ram Lalla Virajman' as 'next friend of Ram Lalla', however, backed the demand for a law for the temple. "What can anyone do if the court has postponed the hearing? We will wait for the court’s verdict as we have been waiting for more than hundred years," he said.


Iqbal Ansari of Sunni Waqf Board said the Board had full faith in the SC. "When elections are round the corner, parties raise the issue of Ram temple construction. When the matter is before the court, let the court decide. Any interference by the government in the case will not be good for the country," he said.

All India Muslim Personal Law Board said the court is the best judge to decide when hearing in the case would begin. It said any ordinance by the government on Ram temple would be "totally illegal and unconstitutional" and added that the Board would contest such a move in the SC.

AIMPLB secretary Maulana Khalid Saifullah Rahmani told TOI: "An ordinance is for emergency issues, and not to settle title and ownership cases like the Ayodhya dispute ." "The dispute is in court and the court knows best on what is to be done about it. We are not for any haste in the matter, nor do we want unnecessary delay," he added.