After Constitution bench of the Supreme Court on Friday referred the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid land dispute for court-appointed and monitored mediation, BJP leader Subramanian Swamy said that even if Sunni Waqf board wins title suit in the court, the land will not go to them.
"The Government of India under Narasimha Rao nationalised the entire land. Under 300 A of the constitution, the central government holds the ownership of the land. This law was passed by the government, Narasimha Rao had decided that it was in the public interest and taken over the entire land," he said.
"Even if Sunni Waqf board wins title suit in the Supreme Court, that land will not go to them. Only compensation will go to them. Therefore, I don't know why Muslim parties are fighting. They are not going to get the land. The government will give the land to Ram Janmabhoomi Nyas to built a temple. I say building a temple is inevitable and shifting of Masjid is also inevitable," he added.
Swamy reiterated, "If Ram was born there then I have a fundamental right to pray and that cannot be taken away. Therefore, there has to be a temple on the spot."
On the question of building Masjid next to the temple, he said, "Masjid can be built anywhere. Masjid, according to the Supreme Court, is not an essential part of Islamic religion and in Islamic countries, masjids are broken to built roads. Masjid is only a place to read namaz and namaz can be read anywhere. There is nothing holy about a place where masjids stand. So, the Muslim community easily can have masjid anywhere which the Indian government would be happy to finance and thereby the problem could be solved. This is one solution but Ram temple will be built on the spot where it used to be before and where faith says Lord Ram was born."
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On the promise of starting construction of Ram temple before elections, Swamy said, "I don't think the government ever said that. They said they will build a Ram temple in their manifesto and build it by legal means. They are still committed to that. Of course, I will agree that they could have built the Ram temple before elections but they have chosen not to do so.
"The government has delayed it by asking the apex court to release the (67 acres of acquired) land. There was no block at all. It was government land. It has been nationalised under Narasimha Rao's time. They could have straight away given the land to Ram Janmabhoomi Nyas Samiti to start construction of the temple. But they did not do it and went to SC. The court has not listed their petition. It is a waste of time," he said.
Uttar Pradesh's Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya said, "We won't question the Supreme Court's order. In the past, efforts were made to come to a solution, but with no success. No Lord Ram devotee or saint wants a delay in construction of Ram Mandir."
"We are not against mediation or Supreme Court's decision. The third option is when we get no results out of mediation and court's decision, legislation may be brought in Parliament," he told ANI.
Meanwhile, BJP leader Uma Bharti asserted that she will stop anyone who tries to construct anything on Ram Janmbhoomi other than a Ram temple.
"I respect Vatican City. If anyone goes there to construct temple, I will stop him. I would also stop anyone who goes to construct Church in Mecca-Madina (holy place of Muslims). In the same way, if anyone tries to construct anything on Ram janmbhoomi other than Ram temple, I will stop them," she said.
Bharti denied commenting on the Supreme Court-nominated mediators in the case, but added: "As a Hindu, this is my right that no construction should be there on that land other than Ram temple, and temples of Sita and Lakshman there."
National Conference (NC) chief Farooq Abdullah opined that the Supreme Court will have the last word on the matter, and all parties will accept its decision.
Earlier in the day, a Constitution bench of the Supreme Court on Friday referred the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid land dispute case for court-appointed and monitored mediation while imposing a media ban on its coverage.
Retired top court judge F M Kallifullah will be the chairman of the panel, a five-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi said.
The panel will also include Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and senior advocate Sriram Panchu, it said.
In its order, the bench said that the mediation proceedings will be held in-camera in Faizabad in Uttar Pradesh and the state government will provide mediators with all the facilities as required. Court has also stated that the mediators can seek further legal assistance as and when required.
The Constitution Bench has said that the mediation process shall begin in a week and a progress report should be filed within four weeks. The court has also ordered the mediation process to be completed in eight weeks.
The apex court also said that there will be no reporting of the mediation proceedings in the media.
"The court-monitored mediation proceedings will be confidential," Justice Gogoi said.
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