Ayodhya case put off, VHP ups ante

The Vishwa Hindu Parishad raised the Ayodhya pitch on the eve of the dharma sansad with its steering committee, the margdarshak mandal, deci...

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The Vishwa Hindu Parishad raised the Ayodhya pitch on the eve of the dharma sansad with its steering committee, the margdarshak mandal, deciding to revive the Ramjanmabhoomi movement with a march to Parliament on March 24 and the VHP working president Ashok Singhal disclosing that a laser survey, conducted at the disputed site by a foreign company on the directons of the Allahabad High Court, had zeroed-in on the ruins of a 4000-year-old temple beneath the surface.

The margdarshak mandal, which met at the VHP headquarters here to draft proposals for the dharma sansad beginning tomorrow, decided to keep New Delhi and not Ayodhya as the focal point of its agitation for the time being. This, the mandal believes, will rule out escalation in tensions and not invite police curbs.


Singhal, Mahant Avaidyanath and Swami Parmanand

The mandal avoided a direct confrontation with the courts by deciding not to announce any date for temple construction. It also resolved not to initiate any dialogue with the Government.

If the Muslim parties — All Indian Muslim Personal Law Board, Babri Masjid Action Committee and Babri Masjid Movement Coordiation Committee — had their way, the next hearing would have been even later than March 6. Their counsel vehemently pleaded that the court should take up the matter only after the Holi vacation or sometime in April because of the VHP’s mounting pressure on the Government to give a part of the Ayodhya land for starting the construction of the Ram temple.

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In fact, Rajeev Dhawan, senior counsel for the Babri Masjid Action Committee, alleged that the Government was dragging the court into a high-voltage pressure game because of the February 23 deadline set by the VHP. ‘‘By various kinds of statements issued in public, the court is being pressurised to decide the issue early,” Dhawan said.

This prompted the bench to retort: ‘‘We are never pressurised. Be sure of it.” Today’s proceedings started with Solicitor General Kirit N Raval’s plea that the matter brooks no delay as the uncertainty prevailing on the acquired land was not in the public interest.

Rejecting Raval’s request to begin hearing the case next Friday, the court said ‘‘the earlier the matter can be heard is March 6 and not earlier.’’ It clarified that whether it takes up the main petition or not, the five-judge bench will dispose of the Government’s application seeking vacation of the 2002 interim order.

Muslim Personal Law Board’s senior counsel Kapil Sibal asserted that the Government is not stating the actual reason behind its concern for an early hearing: namely, that it was working under pressure from the VHP. Sibal said the VHP had threatened to enter the site forcibly if the Government did not resolve the contentious issue. ‘‘That is why they have rushed to the court,’’ he said.

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The main petition filed by Bhure had sought handing over of the 67 acres of acquired land to the Army till a final decision was reached by the Allahabad high court on the title suits claiming rights over the six acres of disputed area. The Government had acquired the 67 acres of land in 1992 in the wake of the Babri Masjid demolition.