BJP objects to Justice Verma comment on Ayodhya order

The BJP today took an exception to former Supreme Court chief justice and NHRC chairman J.S. Verma ‘‘interpreting’’ the 1994 court order on Ayodhya and said it was time for him to think if his comment on an issue pending before the court is ‘‘proper.’’

When asked to comment on Justice Verma’s remarks that the land can be handed over only though a judicial order, BJP Parliamentary Party spokesman Vijay Kumar Malhotra said Verma is a legal luminary and he should know if it is proper for him to interpret an eight-year-old order which is still under the court consideration.

Moreover, it was not a single-judge order, Malhotra added.

He said the NDA as well as the BJP want an early resolution of the Ayodhya dispute. ‘‘We do hope the court will give an early decision,’’ he said. However, he expressed surprise at the Congress and the Opposition opposing the construction of temple at Ayodhya even on undisputed land. He pointed out that several temples, some of them dating hundreds of years back, once stood on the land in question. ‘‘The Opposition’s stand amounts to Hindu-bashing to the extreme,’’ he contended.