Lucknow: After the government filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court for return of land surrounding the disputed site in Ayodhya to original landowners, Muslim clerics have reacted sharply and questioned the Centre's intention in filing the petition months ahead of polls.
They claimed that the central government was not at all serious about the solving the Ayodhya dispute, and instead was entangling the issue further with such petitions.
In its application, the Centre has sought modification of the Supreme Court's orders in 2003 and 2011 by which a complete status quo was imposed on entire 67.7 acre of the land acquired by the government in 1993. The government has now submitted before the court that the original landowners, which included 42 acre of acquired land of the Ram Janmabhoomi Nyas, were "entitled" to get their land back.
Speaking to News18 on the issue, Senior Sunni cleric Maulana Sufiyan Nizami said, “The land for which the central government has filed a writ in the Apex court, has already a judgement on it that no worship or prayer can be done on that land. Now the central government is trying to entangle the issue by a new dispute, shows that the government is not at all serious towards solving the Ayodhya Babri dispute."
"Whenever the matter is on the edge of getting resolved, the government is again trying to derail the issue. Also, the government belongs to everyone and doesn’t belong to any one religion. However, when the government starts taking sides of one particular side then the democratic values are also in danger. Supreme Court should take cognizance of the issue,” he said.
Echoing similar sentiments, Shia cleric Maulana Saif Abbas told News18, “I think till the entire issue is resolved, any kind of construction will not be in the interest of anyone. Supreme Court should not entertain such demand and even the government knows they won’t get any permission. However, it is clear that the government now wants to fight the election on Mandir-Masjid issue instead of the development issue.”
Amid the growing pressure from the RSS, the central government told the Supreme Court that it was “duty bound” to return to Ram Janmabhoomi Nyas and other owners the land adjacent to the disputed site in Ayodhya.
“It is respectfully submitted that the acquisition took place in the year 1993 and 25 years have passed, the original landowners whose land, which were not in dispute but were still acquired, are entitled to get it back and the Central government is duty bound to restore/revert/hand over the same land,” stated the application.
The plea emphasised that only 0.313 area, upon which the Babri mosque stood, is the bone of contention and since the ownership of the "excess" and "superfluous" area is beyond any dispute, their land should be released from acquisition.
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