Supreme Court’s decision to defer day-to-day hearing on the Ayodhya title suit drew sharp reactions from saints and Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leaders, who demanded a legislation to pave the way for early construction of a grand Ram temple at the disputed site.
Bharatiya Janata Party leaders also expressed their annoyance over the delay in commencement of the day-to-day hearing on the Ayodhya issue in the apex court and some even blamed the Congress for the delay.
Reacting to the Supreme Court decision, Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya said that it would have been better had the court commenced day-to-day hearing for an early verdict. “Delaying the hearing is not a good indication,” he said.
Senior BJP leader and former Rajya Sabha member Vinay Katiyar attacked the Congress for the delay in the apex court hearing.
“First, it was Kapil Sibal and now Prashant Bhushan who are responsible for the delay in the hearing of Ayodhya dispute in the apex court. The Congress wants to delay the verdict on the matter and they have succeeded in it,” he said.
Katiyar made it clear that delaying the hearing meant that there would be no verdict before the 2019 Lok Sabha polls and this was unfortunate.
“It will only increase resentment among the majority and their aspirations for a grand Ram temple will be delayed,” Katiyar commented.
The VHP demanded that the Centre bring a legislation for construction of Ram temple as soon as possible.
VHP spokesperson Sharad Sharma said that delaying the hearing on the Ram Janmabhoomi title suit could be termed as a wrong precedence which would annoy the majority community.
“Now, it is the duty of the BJP government at the Centre to bring a legislation to pave the way for early construction of Ram temple,” he said.
Meanwhile, plaintiff from the Muslim side in the title suit, Iqbal Ansari, welcomed the apex court decision and expressed faith on the Supreme Court.
“We accept the decision of the court as we are not in a hurry. Let the court take its time as the case is very crucial,” he said.
All-India Muslim Personal Law Board member and lawyer in the case, Zafaryab Jilani also accepted the decision of the Supreme Court.
“It is up to the court to decide when to take up the matter and no one should question it,” he said.
All-India Shia Personal Law Board spokesperson Yasoob Abbas stopped short of directly commenting on the Supreme Court decision and hoped for an early resolution of the long-standing dispute.
“This case should be resolved... it should not be allowed to hot up in the run-up to 2019 Lok Sabha election. Many mothers have lost their children and wives their husbands over the temple-mosque conflict. India is a land of unity where people of different religions live in perfect harmony,” he said.
On Monday, a three-judge bench of Supreme Court, headed by Chief Justice of India, Ranjan Gogoi, said that an appropriate bench will decide the future course of hearing on the appeals filed against Allahabad High Court verdict in the Ayodhya land dispute case, in January next year.
The bench also comprised Justices SK Kaul and KM Joseph.
As many as 14 appeals have been filed against the Allahabad High Court judgement, delivered in four civil suits, that the 2.77-acre land be partitioned equally among three parties — Sunni Waqf Board, Nirmohi Akhara and Ram Lalla.