To move Supreme Court or not is the question

Whether to accept Friday’s Allahabad high court verdict on Ayodhya title suits or pursue the matter further in the Supreme Court (SC) is the question on everyone’s mind in Ayodhya.

While Hashim Ansari, the 90-year-old lone surviving petitioner in one of the suits filed by Babri Masjid Action Committee, wants the matter to end on Friday does not matter which way the verdict goes, Nagendra Upadhyay, supervisor of Ramjanmabhoomi Trust, wants to move SC if the decision is not in favour of temple.
Ansari told DNA protesting an adverse verdict in the streets and approaching SC both were out of question.

“The September 24 verdict should be final. One and all should be ready to accept it irrespective of what it is. I am saying this as a representative of Muslims, but I have the interest of the entire country on my mind. I do not want this legal battle to become a political issue, leading to violence. So, if the verdict is not in our favour, I will advise against moving the Supreme Court,” he said.

On the contrary, Upadhyay said, “The matter is pending for decades and it will go on for another 50 years. We will see it through to the end. I feel the Union government, not the court, should decide whether there would be a temple or a mosque at the disputed site.”

Countering Upadhyay, Ansari said, “If that [government deciding it] is the issue, why are they not honouring the order of first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru who had ordered removal of idols from the disputed site.”