The Hindu : National : RSS, VHP change stance on Ayodhya verdict

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Sep 18, 2010
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

National

National

RSS, VHP change stance on Ayodhya verdict

Neena Vyas

Welcome Special Bench's decision on verdict

NEW DELHI: A slight but significant shift in the stance of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and the affiliate Vishwa Hindu Parishad towards the impending Ayodhya verdict was noticeable here on Friday, when both welcomed the decision of the Special Bench of the Allahabad High Court in Lucknow to deliver the Ayodhya verdict on September 24, as announced earlier.

Till Thursday, the sangh parivar organisations emphasised on a resolution through a Parliament legislation. Ashok Singhal of the VHP had said that a court decision cannot resolve the dispute.

Spokesperson of the RSS Ram Madhav on Thursday pointed out that the court can at most deliver a verdict on the title deed of the disputed site (where the Babri mosque was razed to the ground on December 6, 1992 and where the idol of Ram is kept in a makeshift temple). However, for building a grand Ram temple “much more land” would be needed (and in that the Centre had a role to play).

After the Babri mosque demolition, the Narasimha Rao government had acquired large plots of land around the disputed structure through The Acquisition of Certain Area at Ayodhya Ordinance, 1993. The land in the possession of the Centre practically encircles the disputed plot and all parties to the dispute are aware that some sort of Central government intervention would be needed to re-develop the disputed land whether as a mosque, a temple or in any other way.

On Friday after news reports came in that the special bench of the Allahabad High Court at Lucknow had reiterated its stand that it would deliver the verdict on September 24, dismissing the petition that asked for a negotiated amicable settlement of the dispute, senior VHP leader Giriraj Kishore said he “welcomed” the court decision of not delaying delay the verdict coming after 60 long years.

A similar sentiment was expressed by Mr. Madhav who described the court decision as “right” and blamed the petitioner Ramesh Chandra Tripathi for trying to delay the verdict.

The RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat had recently clarified he did not want the issue to be politicised.

The sangh parivar is aware that if the issue is politicised once again, as it was during the late eighties and early nineties, no resolution would be possible, as the central government would have to play a role in allotting the land around the disputed structure.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail