The 26th anniversary of demolition of Babri Mosque passed off peacefully in Uttar Pradesh Thursday with Hindu and Muslim organisations observing the day as "shaurya diwas" and "black day" respectively.
While the VHP and Bajrang Dal burst crackers and resolved to build a grand Ram temple in Ayodhya, Muslim outfits held protests to express grief over the incident.
In Ayodhya, Mahant Suresh Das of Digambar Akhara said Ram temple is the biggest issue in front of the country.
"There are three courts -lower courts, high court and Supreme Court - but the people's court is above these three courts. We must go to the peoples court, and convince the public for construction of Ram temple," he said, while addressing the 'Shaurya Sankalp Sabha'.
Muslim organisations observed the day as 'Yaum E Gham' (day of sorrow) and a protest demonstration was held in Lucknow, Convenor of Babri Masjid Action Committee, Zafaryab Jilani said.
There are reports of protests being held in Kerala, Hyderabad and Maharashtra, Jilani said.
More From This Section
A member of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board, Khalid Rashid Firangimahli, handed over a memoradum to the District Magistrate of Lucknow addressed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on behalf of the board demanding justice in the case, Jilani said.
In Gorakhpur, the prant sanyojak of Bajrang dal, Purnendu, said: "We can't have more patience and the Government should pass a law in Parliament for the construction of Ram temple at the birth place of Lord Ram in Ayodhya.
"The Hindu community is depressed after hearing that Ram temple is not among the priorities in front of court," he said in a statement.
On the other hand , Gorakhpur unit of AIMIM, observed the day as black day with a banner carrying the picture of Asaduddin Owaisi, Bheem Rao Ambedkar and Bhagat Singh, and staged a sit-in at the district magistrate's office and gave a memorandum addressed to President of India.
We demanded arrest of the accused in Babri Masjid demolition and reconstruction of the mosque in the memorandum, the All India Majis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) spokesperson, Imran said.
The state Home deparment said the day passed off peacefully with no incident being reported from anywhere.
Elaborate security arrangements had been made for the day in view of plans of both Hindu and Muslim organisations to organise special programmes on the anniversary.