Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Gaurav Bhatia on Thursday lashed out at Congress leader Kapil Sibal over his statement that he did not represent the Sunni Waqf Board during the Ayodhya dispute hearing and said the Congress Party was famous for doing appeasement politics.
Speaking to ANI, Bhatia said, "Supreme Court's order of the day clearly states that Kapil Sibal represented the Sunni Waqf Board and therefore, the truth is now out. It is important that the entire nation knows about the truth. Congress is now famous for doing appeasement politics and is communalising every aspect of it."
He added that this was nothing but misleading the country especially, because the government took a categorical stand that this matter be heard on a day-to-day basis.
"Sibal, appearing for Sunni Waqf Board, made a prayer which is political in nature and should not be made within the Supreme Court. The prayer was that this matter be heard after the elections of 2019. They do not want that this matter should attain finality because that would debar them and take away the reason of doing appeasement politics," Bhatia further said.
Earlier on Wednesday, senior lawyer and Congress leader Kapil Sibal clarified he never represented the Sunni Waqf Board in the ongoing long-standing Ayodhya matter in the Supreme Court.
This clarification of his came in the wake of the board distancing itself from his yesterday's statement in the court wherein he demanded for the next hearing to be held only in July 2019 after the completion of the next Lok Sabha polls, citing political ramifications.
Sibal is the lawyer for Iqbal Ansari, a co-petitioner in the lawsuit over the title to the disputed Ram Janmbhoomi-Babri Masjid site.
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The Supreme Court deferred the hearing in the case for February 8, 2018, following which, a controversy erupted wherein the BJP attacked the Congress Party and Sibal of adopting a double standard on the issue and politicising it.
The Babri Masjid was built by Mughal emperor Babur in Ayodhya in 1528.
The Hindus, however, claim that a Ram temple that originally stood there was demolished to construct the mosque.
Citing this, Hindu zealots demolished the mosque on December 6, 1992, triggering communal riots in various parts of the country.