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Govt. move on Ayodhya draws all-round flak

By Neena Vyas

NEW DELHI FEB. 6. The Centre's appeal to the Supreme Court to get last year's March 13 stay on religious activities on the acquired 67 acres of land in Ayodhya vacated has once again heated up the political atmosphere with various political parties, Muslim organisations and others joining issue.

The battle lines have once again been drawn — the CPI sees in this latest ploy an attempt to "bypass the judicial process,'' the main Ayodhya title suit in the Allahabad High Court; the Congress said the "timing'' of the appeal suggested that the Government's eye was firmly on the election timetable; the Bharatiya Janata Party welcomed the attempt to "expedite'' the proceedings while admitting that the NDA agenda had called for a "moratorium on contentious issues;'' and the Samata Party, BJP ally, was comfortable with a court order but did not want the transfer of any part of the acquired land through an executive order.

The Union Law Minister, Arun Jaitley, is reported to have said in Shimla that approaching the court was in tune with the NDA's commitment to finding a peaceful and speedy solution to the Ayodhya question and that it could not be described as "communal politics.''

Muslim organisations expressed doubts over the Government's intentions, pointing out that the Vishwa Hindu Parishad had been "pressuring and blackmailing" the Government. The All-India Muslim Majlis-Mushawarat felt that the Centre was trying to reopen the question of transfer of the so-called undisputed but acquired land. The Government was "openly siding with the VHP" and had "dropped its mask of neutrality.'' The AIMMM president, S. Shahbuddin, wanted the Muslim Personal Law Board to oppose the Government's stand and place the "correct constitutional and legal position'' before the Supreme Court. An organisation of Imams of mosques demanded police action under POTA against some VHP leaders and warned the BJP allies in the NDA against maintaining silence on the critical issue.

The Congress said that if the Government did not want to use Ayodhya politically, why did it move the Supreme Court when elections were due in three weeks? There was no immediate reason for it to seek the vacation of stay, nor had it given any. The Congress wanted an "amicable'' settlement of the issue but with the consent of all the parties involved.

The BJP spokesperson, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, claimed that the Government wanted to "resolve the issue peacefully'' and find a "just solution'' at the earliest, but it appeared that none of the other political parties, not even the BJP's allies, were entirely convinced that the move to appeal was impartial.

In fact, most political parties are convinced that if the Supreme Court vacates the stay, the next move will be the handing over of the 40 acres of that land to the VHP-controlled Ram Janmabhoomi Nyas.

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