'Some Forces' May Try to Create Fissures: Sharad Pawar on Ayodhya Verdict

Mumbai: As the Supreme Court is likely to pronounce its verdict on the Ayodhya land dispute case next month, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar on Wednesday said "some forces" may try to take advantage of the situation and create fissure among communities.

He made a pitch for ensuring peace among all sections of society. Pawar made the remarks at the meeting of the NCP MLAs, who re-elected the party's lawmaker from Baramati, Ajit Pawar, as their legislature party leader.

Referring to the decades-old land title dispute case, Pawar said the Ram Janmabhoomi is a matter of faith for a big section of the people in the country.

On the other hand, there is a different sentiment among the minorities given the background of riots that followed Babri mosque demolition in 1992, he noted.

"I can see the sentiment among the minorities now is that they will accept whatever verdict the judiciary will give... There is a need to take steps to ensure peace in society, whatever will be the verdict," Pawar said.

"Some forces may try to take advantage of the situation by creating fissure among communities. We cannot rule out possibility that this will have repercussion on the

social unity," he said as he made a pitch for ensuring peace and fraternity among all sections of the society.

The former Union minister, however, did not name the "forces". In the land dispute case of Ayodhya, the top court had reserved its judgment on October 16.

Fourteen appeals have been filed in the apex court against the 2010 Allahabad High Court judgment, delivered in four civil suits, that the 2.77-acre land in Ayodhya be partitioned equally among three parties — the Sunni Waqf Board, the Nirmohi Akhara and Ram Lalla.

Pawar also said the party needs to play the role of a strong opposition given the response it received from the people in the October 21 elections. The former Union agriculture minister asked the party leaders to highlight the crisis in the farm and industrial sectors.

Pawar also stressed the need to expand the 20-year-old party's base in urban areas. The NCP won 54 seats in the recently-concluded Maharashtra Assembly polls.