Senior Congress leader sides with Babri Masjid

Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar has again landed himself in controversies. On Monday, Aiyar in an event named ‘Ek Shaam Babri Masjid Ke Naam’ organized by the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI), said, “We say, do make the mandir in Ayodhya if you want, but how can you say ‘Mandir wahin banayenge’? What is the meaning of Mandir wahin banayenge?”

Mani Shankar Aiyar further added, “Dashrat was a very big king. It is said that his palace had 10,000 rooms. Who knows what room was where? That’s why, to say that ‘we believe our Lord Ram was born here and that’s why we’ll build it there and as there’s a Masjid there we’ll first break it and build in its place’, we say is believing in Allah a wrong thing in India?” Aiyar once again seems to be taking an anti-Hindutva stand. The event echoed the need for the construction of Babri Masjid in Ayodhya. Also, it is the same SDPI which had earlier threatened to gather 25 lakh Muslims against 5 lakh Hindus in Ayodhya, on the Ram Mandir issue.

Not to forget the fact that the Congress party has always opposed the Ram Mandir and has even denied the existence of Bhagwan Ram. In 2008, the Congress had filed an affidavit; the party in its affidavit had said that it had doubts about the existence of Bhagwan Ram and significance of Ram Setu in Rameswaram. To make the matter worse, senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal represented Sunni Waqf Board, which is against the construction of Ram Mandir in Ayodhya.

Prior to this, a three-judge bench of the Supreme Court (SC) headed by the then Chief Justice Dipak Misra along with Justice Ashok Bhushan and Justice Abdul Nazeer gave a 2:1 majority verdict refusing to refer the case to a larger bench. This spells doom for the Congress’ efforts to delay the hearings and final judgement on the case until after the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. The Supreme Court judgement made it clear that mosque is not essential to Islam and therefore the claims of the Sunni Waqf Board that the Babri Masjid is an essential part of Islam stood rejected.

Coming back to the latest statement of Mani Shankar Aiyar, who went on to speak about the current BJP government, put forth, “Those who were behind the demolition are not supported by the people of this country. In 2014, General election, around 31 per cent of Indians extended their support to them but that too for different reasons. In 2014, they got an opportunity but they completely ruined it in the last five years. I know that Indian people want to be secular.”

The Grand Old party is yet to clarify its stand on the latest developments in the Ayodhya case.  Earlier, senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal pleaded the apex court in December 2017 to only hear the case after the 2019 elections. It appears that the Grand Old Party is trying to delay the justice for 95 crore of Hindus.