Babri was a mosque as per Sharia, but will accept SC verdict: Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind president
Arshad Madani, a teacher at Darul uloom Deoband and the seniormost leader of Jamiat, will be meeting RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat later today for the second time in the last few months.
“We have the highest regard however for the Supreme Court of India and will abide by its ruling,” Arshad Madani said. (Express File photo)
Professing the highest regard for the Supreme Court, Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind president Arshad Madani on Wednesday said that Babri Masjid was a mosque as per Shariah law and will remain one “till the end of time” irrespective of in whose favour the apex court rules in the Ayodhya land dispute case.
“We have the highest regard however for the Supreme Court of India and will abide by its ruling,” Madani said.
Asked why the mediation attempts failed in Ayodhya, Madani said both sides need to climb down from their demands. “We were willing to concede Ram Chabutra even though the disputed waqf land has Ram Chabutra, Ram Bhandara and Sita Rasoi. But Hindu parties were not willing to give up their claim over the three dome portion and its courtyard area where the Babri Masjid once stood and where Muslims prayed. The Indian Waqf law does not permit giving it away because it is a mosque by Shariah law. However the Hindu parties were not willing to scale their demand down. That left us no option but to wait for the Supreme Court verdict,” Madani said.
His comments come a day after Muslim leaders of all sects, academicians, and religious leaders met RSS leaders at minority minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi’s residence and resolved to maintain communal amity regardless of the outcome of the Ayodhya case.
Madani, a teacher at Darul uloom Deoband and the seniormost leader of Jamiat, will be meeting RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat later today for the second time in the last few months.
The five-judge bench headed by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi, which reserved its verdict earlier this month after conclusion of the 40-day hearing, is expected to deliver its judgment by mid-November, before the CJI retires on November 17.
In 2010, a special bench of Allahabad High Court had ruled dividing the land into three parts — one part for the mosque side (Sunni Waqf Board), and two-thirds for the two Hindu sides — Ramlalla Virajman, the deity, and Nirmohi Akhara — in equal parts. In his last ‘Mann Ki Baat’ Prime Minister Narendra Modi talked about the maturity with which the public reacted to the Allahabad High Court’s ruling on Ayodhya case in September 2010. Though he did not mention the impending Supreme Court ruling in his address, his reference to the issue appeared to be a veiled suggestion to abide by the court’s order.
Don’t ignore plight of Kashmiri Muslims
Urging the government to not ignore the plight of Kashmiris post abrogation of Article 370 “just because they are from Kashmir and they are Muslims”, he said that home minister Amit Shah’s comments in Kolkata when he had reassured Hindu, Sikh, Jain, Buddhist and Christian refugees, was “against the rule and against the spirit of my discussions with RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat on maintaining communal amity”.
Addressing BJP workers at Netaji Indoor Stadium in Kolkata last month, Shah had said: “I want to assure all Hindu, Sikh, Jain, Buddhist and Christian refugees that you will not be forced to leave India. Don’t believe rumours. Before NRC, we will bring the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, which will ensure these people get Indian citizenship. They will enjoy all the rights of an Indian citizen.”
He said that giving citizenship on the basis of religion is against the spirit of the Indian Constitution. “It does not behove the home minister in the Narendra Modi cabinet who as an MP is sworn to protect the Constitution of India to make such comments. I met Bhagwat because not just today, from before independence Jamiat has believed in Hindu Muslim unity and worked for it. But what Amit Shah said is against the Constitution and against the spirit of those talks. We strongly condemn this and will oppose any such law,” Madani said.
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