Babri Masjid

Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray on Sunday called the Maharashtra unit of Samajwadi Party the "B team" of the BJP, his remark coming a day after the Akhilesh Yadav-led party said it would quit MVA over a social media post by Uddhav Thackeray's aide hailing the 1992 Babri Masjid demolition. "Some times the state unit of the SP acts like the B team of the BJP. (SP national chief) Akhilesh Yadavji is fighting the battle (against the BJP). But don't get me started on who the state SP helped in the recent (assembly) polls," Thackeray told reporters. On Saturday, the SP's Maharashtra unit chief Abu Azmi had hit out at the Shiv Sena (UBT) over a newspaper advertisement and MLC Milind Narvekar's X post connected to the demolition. "If anyone in the Maha Vikas Aghadi speaks such language, what is the difference between the BJP and them? Why should we stay with them?" Azmi had asked. Hitting back, Thackeray on Sunday said his party's Hindutva was all inclusive. "The BJP speaks of ..

The Samajwadi Party announced on Saturday that it would walk out of the opposition MVA after Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray's close aide hailed the demolition of Babri mosque and a related newspaper advertisement. The Samajwadi Party has two MLAs in Maharashtra. "An advertisement was given by Shiv Sena (UBT) in a newspaper congratulating those who demolished Babri masjid. His (Uddhav Thackeray) aide has also posted on X hailing the demolition of the mosque," Maharashtra SP unit chief Abu Azmi said. "We are quitting the MVA. I am speaking to (Samajwadi Party president) Akhilesh Singh Yadav," Azmi told PTI. The SP's move comes in response to Sena (UBT) MLC Milind Narvekar's post on Babri masjid demolition. Narvekar has posted a photo of the demolition of the mosque accompanied by Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray's quote" "I am proud of those who did this". The Shiv Sena (UBT) secretary also posted images of Uddhav Thackeray, Aaditya Thackeray and himself in the post. "If an

The three-judge bench will be led by Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna; hearing is set for December 12

Former Supreme Court judge Justice R F Nariman has criticised the top court's 2019 judgement in the Ramjanmabhoomi-Babri Masjid case, describing it as a "great travesty of justice" that did not do justice to the principle of secularism. Speaking at the First Justice A M Ahmadi Memorial Lecture on 'Secularism and the Indian Constitution', Justice Nariman, however, said the judgment had a "silver lining" as it upheld the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act 1991. He said the Places of Worship Act should be strictly implemented to put an end to disputes over religious places which are popping up every day across the country like "hydra heads". "In my opinion, a great travesty of justice was that secularism was not given its due by these judgements," Justice Nariman said. Justice Nariman also disagreed with the reasoning given by the court to grant the disputed land despite holding that the demolition of the mosque was illegal. "Today we find hydra heads popping all over the ...

Security has also been increased in Uttar Pradesh's Sambhal district ahead of Friday prayers at Shahi Jama Masjid, following a stone-pelting incident on November 24

To heighten the security, the traffic has also been diverted, the police official added

Sambhal administration on Thursday said it will put up posters of those involved in the November 24 violence, even as police beef up security in the district a day before December 6 the date Babri mosque in Ayodhya was demolished by the Hindu right in 1992. Police also estimated the arson and vandalism damage in the Sambhal violence to be worth more than Rs 1 crore. "We will put up posters of those involved in Sambhal violence ... in all likelihood today," District Magistrate Rajender Pensiya told PTI. He said the authorities have identified more than 400 people in connection with the violence that broke out last month over a local mosque survey. "There is a peace committee meeting at 3 pm and we will discuss the situation with everyone," he said. "We are currently designing it (poster). It will be finalised today. 400 people have been identified. Posters will be put up after excluding those who have been arrested," he said. Superintendent of Police (SP) Krishna Kumar Bishnoi sa

Former Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud said that his remarks about praying to God to help him find a solution to the Ayodhya Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid dispute were "completely misconstrued."In an exclusive interview with ANI, Justice Chandrachud said that in Ayodhya's case, the judgment of the court states whether the law and the Constitution were applied or was some "divine intervention.""Like everything else on social media, what I said has been misconstrued. Because what you say is then sort of compressed into a small short of 20 seconds. And what you said on a particular occasion is then put forth in 20 seconds as your view, which is not so. Now, I must tell you that when I spoke on that occasion, just before I laid down office, I went to my own village, which is about an hour and a half from Pune."It's a village called Kanersar, which is predominantly an agricultural community. And I thought I must go to my village. We have an old house built in the 18th century which ...

Political scientists Yogendra Yadav and Suhas Palshikar on Monday wrote to NCERT objecting to new textbooks carrying their names even after they had disassociated themselves from the revisions and said they will be forced to take legal recourse if these books with their names are not withdrawn immediately. In their letter, Palshikar and Yadav said they do not want the NCERT to "hide" behind their names to pass on to students such textbooks of political science that are "politically biased, academically indefensible and pedagogically dysfunctional". Palshikar and Yadav, who were chief advisors for political science textbooks, had last year said that the rationalisation exercise has "mutilated" the books beyond recognition and rendered them "academically dysfunctional" and demanded that their names be dropped from the books. They had stated that the textbooks which were a source of pride for them earlier have now become a source of embarrassment. The revised version of the textbooks,

A day after the NCERT defended its modifying references to Babri Masjid demolition in school textbooks, Kerala Minister M B Rajesh on Monday termed it as a move to communalise all systems of the government and said there was a need to continue the collective fight against such attempts. Rajesh, a CPI(M) leader, said the BJP-led union government had done similar things in the past 10 years, also claiming that there was no agenda behind their actions. The present move by the NCERT has proved that despite the BJP's decreased number of seats in the Lok Sabha and the party losing the majority to rule independently, the Sangh Parivar was not ready to withdraw from its extreme communal agendas, the minister for Local Self-Government Department (LSGD) alleged. "This is a warning to everyone. So, we have to continue the fight against the Sangh Parivar and their efforts to communalise textbooks and all other systems of the government," he told reporters here. Rejecting accusations of ...

Here is a timeline of events explaining the centuries-long Ram mandir-Babri masjid land dispute in Ayodhya

The apex court based its ruling on the findings of a survey by the Archaological Survey of India (ASI), determining that the mosque was raised on the ruins of a Ram temple

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Wednesday lashed out at the BJP over its protest against the arrest of a Hindu activist in Hubballi in connection with a 31-year-old case related to Ram temple agitation, saying leaders of the opposition party need to understand that assigning caste and religious labels to criminals is extremely dangerous. He recalled that even when the BJP government was in power in the state, the Lokayukta police had arrested the then Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa and sent him to jail. "Is that Hubballi criminal suspect any greater Hindu or devotee of Rama than Yediyurappa? So, was the government at that time anti-Hindu? Not even the leaders of the BJP's parent organisation called the government that arrested Hindu Yediyurappa anti-Hindu, did they? Why this outcry now?", Siddaramaiah said. "The Congress government is becoming more popular day by day. Out of desperation, BJP leaders are rallying around a criminal suspect", the Chief Minister ...

Construction of a proposed mosque in Ayodhya mandated by the Supreme Court in its Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid case verdict is expected to begin in May, people associated with the project have said. The Indo-Islamic Cultural Foundation Trust, which is tasked with building the mosque in Ayodhya's Dhannipur, also intends to appoint in-charges in different states starting in February to raise funds. Settling a fractious issue that goes back more than a century, the Supreme Court in a historic verdict on November 9, 2019, backed the construction of a Ram temple at the disputed site in Ayodhya and ruled that an alternative plot be found for a mosque in the Hindu holy town. The construction of the mosque is yet to begin even as the consecration ceremony of the Ram temple is expected to take place on January 22, 2024. Chief trustee of the Indo-Islamic Cultural Foundation Zufar Farooqui said, "The final design of the mosque is likely to be ready by mid-February and it will then go for ...

The mosque site is located around 22 km away from the original location of the Babri Masjid, which was brought down on December 6, 1992

The Hindu side had demanded an evidence room to preserve the 'proofs' collected during the ASI survey, in addition to reserving the Gyanvapi mosque premises

AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Saturday wondered how things will pan out after the Archaeological Survey of India reports are made public after the investigation and hoped that the floodgates for a "thousand Babris" (Babri Masjid) will not be opened. The Supreme Court on Friday refused to stay the Allahabad High Court order allowing the ASI to conduct a scientific survey at the Gyanvapi mosque complex to determine if the 17th century structure was built upon a pre-existing temple, notwithstanding the assertion by the Muslim side that the exercise will "reopen wounds of the past". He said in a tweet one hopes that neither the incidents of "December 23 nor December 6" will repeat and the observation of the Supreme Court in the Ayodhya judgement regarding the sanctity of the Places of Worship Act must not be dishonoured. "#Gyanvapi ASI reports are made public, who knows how things will pan out. One hopes that neither 23rd December nor 6th December will repeat. The observation of the .

Maharashtra minister and senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Chandrakant Patil on Monday said not a single worker of the Shiv Sena was near the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya when it was brought down by the Bajrang Dal and Durga Vahini on December 6, 1992. Patil, minister of higher and technical education in the Eknath Shinde government and a former Maharashtra BJP chief, made the comment while speaking to a regional news channel. Incidentally, Shiv Sena founder late Bal Thackeray has often been quoted as saying that he was proud if any of his Sainiks took part in the demolition of the disputed structure. "I was placed there by the Bajrang Dal for three-four months to facilitate kar sevaks arriving in Ayodhya. People participating were either from Bajrang Dal, VHP or Durga Vahini. Former Bihar state deputy CM (and senior BJP leader) Sushil Kumar Modi, legislator Harendra Kumar and I were given the task to manage the kar sevaks and ensure their safe passage," Patil claimed. "We three were

AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi has said that December 6 will forever remain a black day for Indian democracy