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VHP 'firm', Muslims seek President's intervention
By J. P. Shukla
AYODHYA, DEC. 6. The ninth anniversary of the demolition of the Babri Masjid here passed off peacefully with the Vishwa Hindu Parishad leaders reiterating that they would begin construction of the Ram temple at the disputed site any time after March 12, and the Muslims appealing to the President, Mr. K. R. Narayanan, to take all steps to ensure maintenance of rule of law and supremacy of Parliament and the Constitution.
At Karsewakpuram, the speakers, who addressed Bajrang Dal and VHP workers, defiantly announced that it was not for the courts to specify the spot where Lord Ram was born. Acceptance of court verdicts on the Ayodhya dispute was, therefore, meaningless, they said.
Paramhans Ramchandra Das, chairman of the Ram Janmabhumi Trust, said the Prime Minister, Mr. A.B. Vajpayee, had promised to resolve the dispute by March 12. The Prime Minister had told him and the VHP leader, Mr. Ashok Singhal, something in confidence and he could not disclose it. However, even if Mr. Vajpayee failed to resolve the issue as promised, he (the Paramhans) would take the unilateral decision on the temple construction.
According to the Paramhans, the Karsewaks would make attempts for the construction of the temple in a peaceful way. The VHP would not take to violence at any cost, but it would be equally firm in its resolve to build the temple.
The Muslims limited their protests to sending memoranda to the President, drawing his attention to how the demolition of the Babri mosque had attacked the principles of secularism, democracy and the rule of law enshrined in the Constitution. The VHP still held that there would be no legal hurdles because temple construction related to the faith of millions of Hindus and this was beyond the purview of any court, they pointed out and urged the President to take a firm decision ``whether the country would be run by the `Dharam Sansad' or by the Parliament of India, by the constitutionally-elected Government or by the group of anti-national elements.''
Mr. Mohammad Yunus Siddique, the Chairman of the Faizabad unit of the Babri Masjid Action Committee said the members of the minority community had only prayed for the restoration of the Babri mosque.
At Ayodhya, a small group of Muslim leaders also held a meeting and sent a similar memorandum to the President. Shops and business establishments in Muslim-dominated areas of Faizabad were closed.
The twin townships of Ayodhya and Faizabad had been converted into a veritable police camp with heavy forces deployed at all important points.
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