Their names have been splashed across the front pages of all national newspapers in the last two weeks. An entire nation is waiting with bated breath for their decision on the Ayodhya title suit. And the three judges of the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court will walk into court hall number 21 at 3.30 pm on Thursday to pronounce their verdict in the historic case.
Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader L K Advani on Saturday said he failed to understand why the Supreme Court has deferred pronouncement of the verdict on the Ayodhya title suit when the nation has been waiting for a decision on the dispute since decades.
Supreme Court judge, Justice R V Raveendran, gave this order while hearing the petition filed by retired bureaucrat Ramesh Chand Tripathi to defer the title suit verdict.
The Supreme Court on Friday refused to stay the proceedings before the Allahabad high court on suits related to the Sri Krishna Janambhoomi-Shahi Idgah dispute, saying it will not be fair to interfere with the high court order without hearing both the sides.
Anger cannot be an end in itself to Rahul Gandhi's politics -- it must instead catalyse a new political strategy, argues Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
Shah made the announcement while addressing the passing out parade of the first batch of the five newly constituted Assam Police Commando battalions in Guwahati.
The court also observed that late Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Ashok Singhal wanted to save the structure because Ram idols were inside.
Insisting that she was not involved in bringing down Babri Masjid, expelled Bharatiya Janata Party leader Uma Bharti -- a prime accused in the case -- on Thursday said she was ready to face any consequence following the submission of the Liberhan Commission report to the prime minister.
The accused include former deputy prime minister Advani, former Union ministers Joshi and Uma Bharti, former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Kalyan Singh, besides Vinay Katiyar and Sadhvi Rithambara.
The Allahabad high court, in its judgment of 2010 on four civil lawsuits, had partitioned the 2.77-acre disputed land in Ayodhya equally among the three parties -- the Sunni Waqf Board, the Nirmohi Akhara and Ram Lalla.
The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to hear on September 9 a plea challenging certain provisions of the 1991 law which prohibit filing of a lawsuit to reclaim a place of worship or seek a change in its character from what prevailed on August 15, 1947.
Prayers were performed in a cellar of the Gyanvapi mosque in Varanasi on Wednesday night following court orders allowing the resumption of a practice said to have been discontinued three decades back, Kashi Vishwanath temple trust president said.
The Congress has been in the crosshairs after demeaning remarks on Ranaut and Mandi were posted on the social media handles of its leaders Supriya Shrinate and H S Ahir.
The high court has dismissed the Gyanvapi mosque management committee's appeal.
It will be in Modi's interest to reinvent his party, read the writing on the wall that voters wrote, and move ahead. He has little choice now. The country is watching, asserts Ramesh Menon.
In nearly 100 seats, the BJP stands almost no chance of winning. In 200 seats, it is a direct fight between the BJP and the Congress where the BJP has an upper hand. In 243 seats, the BJP is pitted against regional parties and it is not going to be easy. That is why 400 seats may end up as a pipe dream, states Ramesh Menon, author of Modi Demystified: The Making of a Prime Minister.
The SC underlined that it has no control over what Mughal ruler Babar did.
Shiv Sena's Sanjay Raut said the Bharatiya Janata Party's national executive should pass a resolution to demand investigation by these agencies in the land case.
A thick security blanket has been thrown across Uttar Pradesh with paramilitary forces keeping an aerial vigil of sensitive places, including the disputed site in Ayodhya. The high court, which will be pronouncing the verdict, has been declared a 'no-access zone' restricting entry to only those connected with the case listed on Thursday. The intelligence network is on high alert throughout the state to monitor the movement and activities of anti-social elements.
One of the most important cases which have political implications is the Ayodhya land dispute case.
'There is no scope for any doubt. This was a scheme designed to enrich the ruling party.'
'The judicial procedure was influenced which led to no convictions in the anti-Sikh riots of 1984'
The court asked the UP govt to get examined the disputed premises by a five-member team of the ASI at its expense.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to give an early hearing to Bharatiya Janata Party leader Subramanian Swamy's plea seeking facilities for the devotees visiting the disputed site in Ayodhya.
While there was no official communication about the closed-door meeting, speculation was rife that the Kanchi seer had been sent by Prime Minister Narendra Modi with some secret formula for an amicable settlement to the centuries-old dispute that had triggered several incidents of communal violence across the country in the past.
A revealing excerpt from Mani Shankar Aiyar's fascinating new book, The Rajiv I Knew.
'The Congress is trying to reinvent itself -- the caste census demand, OBC emphasis, the anti-corporate thrust, especially on Adani etc -- all this is not standard Congress strategy.'
The transmogrification of Prime Minister Modi to Saint Modi began with the ground-breaking ceremony of the Ram temple in Ayodhya. By identifying himself with Lord Ram, Modi raised himself in popular imagination to a saintly person.
"I am supporting the Hindu side," lawyer M C Dhingra, appearing for Shia Wakf Board, told the bench.
While seeking a deferment for a period of three months to enable both sides to explore possibilities of a negotiated settlement, the party also proposes to seek extension of three months for the high court judge Justice Dharam Veer Sharma, whose retirement on October 1 would otherwise necessitate the constitution of a fresh bench to hear the case.
The Rashtriya Swayam sewak Sangh said the Allahabad High Court's refusal to defer the judgement in the 60-year-old Ayodhya case is a right decision as impediments were sought to be put in the judicial process to delay the verdict.
Sitaram Yechury said the party will make a detailed comment after studying the order of the special court.
It is not immediately clear if they have to be present in court or can appear through a video conference due to restrictions imposed to fight the spread of coronavirus.
This election will be remembered for being the first election where the Election Commission failed to take action on gross violations involving the ruling party that repeatedly used religion, communal slurs, lies and undocumented allegations, observes Ramesh Menon.
All political parties have appeal for peace and harmony.
The Supreme Court refused to stay Allahabad high court's December 14 order which allowed the primary survey of the Shahi Idgah complex adjacent to the Shri Krishna Janmabhoomi Temple in Uttar Pradesh's Mathura by a court-monitored three-member team of advocate commissioners.
Is it is necessary to play divisive politics to succeed in the next general elections? asks Dr Sudhir Bisht.
The much awaited and much debated verdict in the Ayodhya case is finally out and the lead up to the same was pretty dramatic in Lucknow. A member of the legal team who was present in the court hall where the verdict was delivered said that there was pin drop silence in the court hall as the three judges read out their verdicts.
The board has decided not to oppose the governments plea for expeditious hearings in the title suit.
