The Supreme Court has deferred the hearing on the Krishna Janmabhoomi-Shahi Idgah mosque dispute in Mathura. The adjournment comes as Hindu parties involved in the case are reportedly engaged in off-the-record talks to determine which lawsuit will serve as the lead case. The court was hearing a plea challenging an Allahabad High Court order that designated one Hindu party as the representative for all Lord Krishna devotees.
A cabinet meeting outside Lucknow -- a rare event -- was held for the first time in Prayagraj in January of 2019.
The Supreme Court of India has extended its stay on a court-monitored survey of the Shahi Idgah Mosque complex in Mathura, which is located adjacent to the Krishna Janmabhoomi temple. The court deferred the hearing on a plea against the survey to April 1, while the interim order staying the survey will continue to operate. The Hindu side claims that the mosque complex holds signs of a temple that once existed at the site, while the Muslim side contends that the lawsuits filed by the Hindu litigants violate the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act of 1991.
The Uttar Pradesh cabinet will hold its meeting on Thursday in Ayodhya as the city gears up for the opening of the Ram temple in January.
Questioning the timing of a 'sting' operation on the Babri Masjid demolition, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday alleged that it was "sponsored", accusing the Congress of using "pawns" to vitiate the atmosphere before elections and asked the Election Commission to stop its publication and telecast.
'All this (temple's construction) will change the fate of Ayodhya. We all want our child to get better opportunities'
A ready reckoner on the Ram Janambhoomi-Babri Masjid issue.
We can wait with bated breaths for the Allahabad High Court verdict slated for September 24 but that is not going to put to rest this controversy, says Vivek Gumaste
All India Muslim Personal Law Board Abdul Raheem Qureshi and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi voice their concerns about the Ayodhya verdict.
As the country's largest opposition political party with strong roots among the majority community, the BJP has a special stake in ensuring communal peace and harmony.
'Till last year they said everybody should abide by the court's verdict. This year, they turn around and say it can't be decided [by the court]. Why?' asks Yusuf H Muchhala, member of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board.
Highly placed sources said that the government had been given a life line when the Suprme Court took the line that one more effort should be made to bring all the parties together and arrive at a consensus to resolve the issue . It was continuing to advise the television channels to show restraint and not to broadcast any inflammatory material. The government has now extended the ban on bulk smses to September 29 for the same purpose.
Mahant Narendra Giri, the newly elected president of All India Akhara Parishad, met Hashim Ansari, the oldest surviving litigant in the Babri Masjid case.
Can ordinary citizens counter this backward march? Can peace activists ensure that the two communities retain their bonds? Do they have a choice, asks Jyoti Punwani.
"Interim orders wherever granted shall continue. Re-list in first half of April, 2024," the bench said in its order and directed the parties to complete the pleadings by then.
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.
The SC asked parties before the Allahabad HC to file in 2 weeks English translation of documents exhibited by them.
The Opposition's stand on the Ayodhya consecration is puzzling. Their only objection seems to be that the BJP has hijacked a religious event for political benefit. In saying this, the Opposition is either being naive or hypocritical, argues Jyoti Punwani.
During the hearing on Tuesday, the bench said it has not received the information from the high court yet.
Mani Shankar Aiyar says the Congress party and not then prime minister Rajiv Gandhi was responsible for unlocking the Babri Masjid gates and claimed that the "Bharatiya Janata Party-planted" Arun Nehru was behind it.
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.
'What is at stake is not one mosque or temple, it is the question of the principle of secularism which is part of the basic structure of the Constitution as declared even by the Supreme Court of India.'
A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta stayed the implementation of the December 14, 2023, order by which it had agreed to the appointment of a court commissioner to oversee the survey of the mosque premises which, the Hindu side claims, hold signs suggesting that it was a temple once. However, the apex court made it clear that proceedings before the high court in the dispute including the maintainability of the suit under Order 7 Rule 11 of the Civil Procedure Code (CPC) will continue.
The Biju Janata Dal on Tuesday opposed the no-confidence motion against the government on the Manipur violence, saying what happened in the state is due to "legacy issues" running back several decades.
"Do you remember that 'kar sevaks' were shot in Ayodhya and bodies were thrown into the Saryu," he said referring to a 1990 incident during the SP regime while addressing a rally at Government Inter College in Faizabad.
In a series of restrictions, district magistrate Anuj Kumar Jha on Saturday ordered against the use of social media to "insult" deities or to install idols and hold processions related to Ram Janmabhoomi.
Police escorted the rally all the way, at one point standing in a row to prevent the rallyists from entering a side road where stood a huge mosque. Across the road, an old Muslim woman asked her Hindu neighbour what the rally was all about. The latter shrugged her ignorance, looking on in bewilderment at the young men with their saffron flags, all of them wearing Bajrang Dal T-shirts.
Yadav struck deals with the Bahujan Samaj Party, the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress whenever needed to form or save the governments led by him in Uttar Pradesh.
'Many people tell me I should give up the fight but I don't listen to them.'
'We all know that when the Babri Masjid was demolished, P V Narasimha Rao was prime minister.' 'He did not do anything to stop the demolition.'
'This evidence is important to solve the dispute.'
'It is best that an amicable solution to the dispute is found outside the precincts of the courts of law,' says former Union home secretary Dr Madhav Godbole.
'She showed courage at every turn in her political career.'
Mulayam's last rites will be performed with full state honours in Saifai near Etawah in Uttar Pradesh
'Modi will not require the Ayodhya issue because he already has other emotive issues like Pakistan.' 'The BJP does not need the temple for political mobilisation anymore.'
Though Mohammed Hashim Ansari was the oldest litigant in the case and was against the Ram temple coming up at the site, he never spoke ill of his neighbours who were Hindus.
The litigant, in review plea filed through lawyer Ejaz Maqbool, has also sought an interim stay on operation of the verdict in which it had directed the Centre that a trust be formed within three months for construction of the temple at the site.
The petitioners seeking reconsideration by a larger bench, the observations made by it in a 1994 verdict that a mosque was not integral to Islam.
'The court can strengthen the verdict by ensuring that Muslims don't feel shortchanged or cheated.'
'Although Narendra Modi had no direct participation in the Ayodhya agitation, he would not have been in the dominant position he is now had it not been for the Ram Janambhoomi agitation.'
