The Baharatiya Janata Party condemned Uttar Pradesh government's crackdown against VHP yatra from Ayodhya and accused it of playing vote bank politics while Samjwadi Party said it won't let the state "become another Gujarat" or a repeat of Dec 6, 1992, when the Babri mosque was demolished.
Indian politics, held captive in one way or the other by Ayodhya, may now well seek its emancipation from this issue, and the pursuit of welfare, asserts Congress leader Salman Khurshid in this excerpt from his latest book, Sunrise over Ayodhya.
'The Muslim community is disappointed with this judgment.'
According to trust sources, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat , Maharashtra Chief Minister Udhav Thackeray and Bihar CM Nitish Kumar are also on the list of invitees.
'What kind of insensitivity does it take to get taxpayers to cough up for an aircraft costing a few billion for your personal use, at a time when the country you head is in so much trouble?' asks Sherna Gandhy.
The lawyers said the mediation panel's report was leaked to the media and they do not approve the procedures adopted in the process and the suggested compromise formula of withdrawal of the lawsuit.
The Places of Worship Act is 'An Act to prohibit conversion of any place of worship and to provide for the maintenance of the religious character of any place of worship as it existed on the 15th day of August 1947, and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto'.
While Narendra Modi and Mulayam Singh Yadav rallied in front of a packed house, rain played spoilsport and reduced the supporters at Arvind Kejriwal's gathering to a few thousands.
The court asked the UP govt to get examined the disputed premises by a five-member team of the ASI at its expense.
He also said Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to take part in an event related to the pran pratishtha on any day during January 20-24.
While five pleas have been filed by Maulana Mufti Hasbullah, Moulana Mahfoozur Rehman, Mishbahuddin, Mohd Umar and Haji Nahboob, who are all supported by the All India Muslim Personal Law Board, the sixth one has been filed by Mohammad Ayub.
Shamshad said according to Muslims, there is a graveyard known as 'Ganj Shahidan' around the demolished Babri Masjid where 75 Muslims who lost their lives in the 1885 riots in Ayodhya were buried.
'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.'
With the general election round the corner, the BJP believes its show of intent for building the temple could consolidate its core supporters.
'Many people tell me I should give up the fight but I don't listen to them.'
Although conventional political wisdom would decree that the construction of a 'magnificent' Ram temple at his 'birth-place' would bring the BJP a big yield of votes in the prospective elections, its leaders know by now that the mandir must not exist in isolation in its game plan, reports Radhika Ramaseshan.
'The entire idea behind the serial bomb blasts was to strike fear in the minds of Indians.' 'I don't think the blasts were targeted to derail the Indian economy; the idea behind the blasts was retribution.'
The much-awaited verdict on the title suit of the disputed site at Ayodhya will be pronounced on September 24 by the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court.The long pending case is about the ownership of the Ayodhya land to which Hindus and Muslims had been making rival claims over the past one and a quarter century.While Hindus claimed the land to be the site of the birthplace of their most revered Lord Ram, Muslims asserted their right over the same.
The 1991 provision is an Act to prohibit conversion of any place of worship and to provide for the maintenance of the religious character of any place of worship as it existed on August 15, 1947, and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.
'Earlier, Sri Sri told me we (Muslims) must give up our claim to the Babri Masjid site and be large-hearted.' 'Sri Sri has always taken sides on this issue, and isn't neutral at all.'
Addressing a public rally in Sabroom in poll-bound Tripura, Shah said that the Congress and the Communist Party of India-Marxist had put the Ram Mandir issue in the jurisdiction of the court for long, while Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone for it after the Supreme Court's order.
'The jurisprudence of a modern secular State has to be strictly rational.' 'Rather than aastha and aqeedah, our jurisprudence as well as the executive and legislature have to act in accordance with Constitutional rationality,' argues Mohammad Sajjad.
The hearing of the civil suit filed in a Mathura court seeking ownership of the entire 13.37 acres of Krishna Janmabhoomi land has been adjourned till December 10, after the plaintiff in the case, Shri Krishna Janmabhoomi Trust, failed to appear before the court on Wednesday.
The Ayodhya judgment of November 9 draws on both the polytheism of Hinduism and the modern rule of law, says Deepak Lal.
Mahesh Sharma Lord Ram looked set to occupy political centre-stage in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh despite the Bharatiya Janata Party's claim of a temple to the deity not being on its agenda
'We are aggrieved about the ruling and there is no other way of putting it across to the Supreme Court and entire society that wrong has been committed and which requires correction.'
The Waqf Board was yet to take a call on whether to accept a five-acre alternative plot for a mosque, its chairman Zufar Farooqi said.
Dominic Xavier offers his take on Raj Thackeray's latest political ploy and wonders if this Thackeray versus Thackeray skit will help the BJP finally achieve its goal of ejecting the Maha Vikas Aghadi government from a state that has largely been insulated from the communal disharmony sweeping across parts of north India.
The judgment in the matter is to be pronounced by November 17, the day the CJI will retire.
The Supreme Court of India on Wednesday asked the Centre to furnish by October 31 its affidavit in response to petitions challenging the validity of certain provisions of a 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.
The rapprochement could open the door to an anti-saffron alliance for the 2019 general elections, reports Archis Mohan.
'If we were to change the name of our country officially and become a Hindu Rashtra, will the treatment of Muslims change?' asks Aakar Patel.
In the late 1990s, the construction cost of the Ram temple, according to unofficial estimates, was pegged at Rs 120 crore. Adjusting for inflation to the current financial year, the edifice would entail an investment of nearly Rs 450 crore, excluding the land cost.
Former Union minister Beni Prasad Verma on Friday quit the Congress and rejoined the Samajwadi Party, a move which is likely to shore up the SP's prospects in the 2017 assembly polls.
Union Minister Beni Prasad Verma on Tuesday said he would not hesitate in advocating for a tie-up with Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party for Mainpuri seat to ensure defeat of Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav in the Lok Sabha elections.
A Hindu body has moved the Supreme Court challenging a provision in the 1991 law that provides for maintaining the "religious character" of holy structures as it existed on August 15, 1947, in a bid to open the litigation route to reclaim disputed religious sites other than the Ram Janambhoomi in Ayodhya. The petition, which has challenged Section 4 of the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991, assumes significance in the case of Kashi and Mathura, where two disputed mosques stand.
Dhavan took to Facebook to disclose that he has been removed from further participation in the Ayodhya case on the 'nonsensical' ground that he is unwell.
The bench, which was hearing the politically sensitive case on 34th day, asked Parasaran as to whether 'it has been held that any Hindu temple, including the land has been accorded the juristic personality'.
Here are some of the reactions to the Supreme Court verdict on Ayodhya.
'This is about reviving this country as a centre of Hindutva at Ayodhya.'
