Prime Minister Narendra Modi took potshots at the Congress for slowing down the judicial process. (File)Breaking his silence on the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid dispute, which will be taken up by the Supreme Court on Friday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi made it clear that any decision on bringing an ordinance for construction of Ram temple would be considered only after the judicial process is over.
“Let the judicial process be over. After the judicial process is over, whatever will be our responsibility as the government, we are ready to make all efforts,” PM Modi said in an interview with ANI. Citing the triple talaq case, Modi pointed out that an ordinance to ban the practice was promulgated only after the Supreme Court verdict in 2017.
At the same time, he also took potshots at the Congress for slowing down the judicial process. “Nobody can deny that those sitting in the governments in the last 70 years have tried their best to stall a solution to this (Ayodhya) issue,” Modi said.
Urging the Grand Old Party not to play politics over the Ram temple issue, Modi alleged that Congress lawyers were creating “obstacles” in the apex court. “Don’t weigh it in political terms. I beseech the Congress, for the sake of national peace and amity, they should stop its lawyers from stalling this (Ayodhya issue) in the court,” PM Modi said.
The Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid dispute will be taken up by the Supreme Court on Friday, where the CJI Ranjan Gogoi-led division bench will constitute a fresh three-judge bench to hear the petitions and decide on the timeline. Petitions have also been filed in the court for day-to-day hearing in the case.
About 14 petitions have been filed against the 2010 Allahabad High Court judgment, which ruled that the 2.77 acre land be partitioned equally among three parties — the Sunni Waqf Board, Nirmohi Akhara and Ram Lalla.
When asked whether construction of Ram Mandir had been relegated as merely an emotive issue for the BJP, PM Modi said, “We have said in our BJP manifesto that a solution would be found to this issue under the ambit of the Constitution.”
The delay in resolving the matter has led to a clamour from various Hindutva parties and RSS for a law that would allow construction of a Ram temple in Ayodhya without waiting for the court’s verdict ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
