CPM hopes SC will clear all doubts on Ayodhya

NEW DELHI: Reacting to the Allahabad high court verdict, CPM on Tuesday said that the judgement has "set a dangerous precedent for the future".

CPM politburo, which underplayed the large body of archaeological evidence as well as the reasons for dismissing the Sunni Waqf Board's petition, claimed that the judges went only by religious belief and faith. "The verdict for a three-way division of the land is, however, based on faith and belief. This aspect of the set of judgements is disturbing as it accords primacy to religious belief and faith over and above the facts and the record of evidence," a statement issued by the CPM politburo said.

CPM general secretary Prakash Karat, who addressed a press conference, said his party hoped that the Supreme Court will address the issue in a "proper perspective". He, however, acknowledged that the response to the HC verdict has been positive. "The response of the people to the verdict of the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court has shown that the people find a settlement of the dispute by the judicial process acceptable. The general reaction of the people has been that the matter should not be once again used in a divisive manner," he said.

During his interaction with the media, Mr Karat also spoke about the apprehensions in the "secular" sections that the verdict could be used for justifying the demolition of the disputed structure. "The demolition of the Babri Masjid in December 1992 was a criminal offence and an assault on the secular principle," he said.

While conceding that the judgement was not on the demolition but on the Ayodhya title suits, Mr Prakash Karat said there were apprehensions that "the reasoning set out in the judgements may be taken as a post-facto justification for the demolition".

The statement of CPM is on the expected lines as there is some concern in the Leftist circles that the recent judgement could come in the way of their plans to keep BJP in the "socially and politically unacceptable corner". Although such efforts in the past were not quite successful - BJP itself had put contentious issues on the backburner for striking alliances with regional parties and forming a national coalition - the Left is wary of the temple movement getting any legitimisation.