International media calls Ayodhya verdict a victory for Modi

NEW DELHI: Many major US, UK and Pakistani media have described the historic Ayodhya verdict by Supreme Court on the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid land dispute case as a victory for Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

“The ruling, just six months after his landslide election win, is another huge victory for India's prime minister,” the Guardian reported.

BBC analysed that the verdict on Saturday could lead to reconciliation between the two communities while CNN reported the verdict ended “one of the country's most politically charged land disputes”.


The New York Times wrote, ‘Court backs Hindus on Ayodhya, handing Modi victory in his bid to remake India’. The article, authored by Maria Abi-Habib and Sameer Yasir, alleged that the ruling handed “the prime minister and his followers a major victory in their quest to remake the country as Hindu and shift it further from its secular foundation”.

The Washington Post report by Joanna Slater, titled ‘India's Supreme Court clears way for a Hindu temple at country's most disputed religious site’, said, “The verdict awarded the land at the heart of the clash to a Hindu litigant over Muslim objections and represents a major victory for Prime Minister Narendra Modi.”

Pakistan daily Dawn in its report alleged that the verdict is “likely to affect the already fraught relationship between India's Muslim and Hindu communities”. Another Pakistani newspaper, Express Tribune, wrote, “India SC rules to hand over Babri Mosque land to Hindus”.

Bangladesh’s Daily Star called the judgment “balanced”.

China Daily published a report by Bloomberg that said, “The verdict will test secular India’s ability to deal with the sensitive case at a time when Hindu hardliners are feeling increasingly empowered. The promise to build a grand temple at the Ayodhya site was a key part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist agenda that risks fuelling social divisions in the country, which has a history of religious riots.”