BABRI VERDICT Will the Govt Ignore or Implement It?

Will the Government just ignore or partially implement or implement in full the eagerly-awaited Babri Masjid-Ram Janmabhoomi Temple verdict? That is the question that is being avidly discussed in the drawing rooms of the concerned across the country.

Written by

DR. S. Ausaf Saied Vasfi

Published on

August 16, 2022

Will the Government just ignore or partially implement or implement in full the eagerly-awaited Babri Masjid-Ram Janmabhoomi Temple verdict? That is the question that is being avidly discussed in the drawing rooms of the concerned across the country.

The reason behind this significant discussion is that the Government rather all the national parties have developed a bad habit to cold-shoulder politically uncomfortable judgements of the Supreme Court – this despite the Constitutional mandate under Art. 144, clearly stating: “All authorities, civil and judicial, in the territory of India, shall act in aid of the Supreme Court.”

4 OF 100

Before dealing with the question, let us recall that there are four pending suits over 100 issues before the Allahabad High Court. For 59 years, the title suits had been in the court. The legal battle for rights to sites, however started in the 19th century.

Among several questions before the court some are: whether the temple existed at the site before 1528 when the Babri Masjid was built; whether the site is the birthplace of Rama; whether the idols were placed in the sanctum sanctorum in the night of December 22-23, 1949; whether the property within the inner courtyard at the site was of the Babri Masjid and the land adjoining it a public Muslim graveyard; whether the suit filed by the Sunni Central Board of Waqfs was barred by the limitation; and whether the Masjid had been abandoned by Muslims.

Word ‘abandoned’ is really interesting here. Because Muslims, out of respect for a local court order, had stopped offering prayers in the 500-year old mosque.

It was in 1950 that the first title suit was filed followed by several ones, in 1951 by the Nirmohi Akhada and in 1961 by the Sunni Waqf Board. Both the parties were unanimous in opposing the deferment of judgement. There is zero per cent possibility of a negotiated settlement.

In view of the importance of the subject, the apex court has, this week, constituted a 3-member bench to be headed by the Chief Justice Mr. S.H. Kapadia. The other members are Mr. Aftab Alam and Mr. S.K. Radhakrishnan. The Attorney General Mr. G.E. Vahanvati will assist the bench. He is likely to inform the court of the Centre’s stand on the issue. The bench will decide whether to continue the stay or vacate it.

BETWEEN-THE-LINES

It was Mr. L.K. Advani who talked of caution and made loud thinking about ultimately going to the Supreme Court. So did several Hindutva leaders. The saffron-watchers understood the between-the-lines meaning of the loud thinking which was further confirmed by the Prime Minister’s appeal in newspapers. What is remarkable is that the Prime Minister reached out to the VHP and BJP leadership also and sought their cooperation in maintaining harmony. It was on that appeal that the Saffron family as a whole reserved its right to react after the delivery of the judgement. Notwithstanding the optimism expressed by some uninformed noble souls, there is no possibility of any out-of-court settlement.

The Muslim leadership did not show any anxiety or knee-jerk reaction, to be followed by the possibility of challenging the deferment of judgement by the apex Muslim organisations, which have since the very beginning been promising to maintain cordial relations with the majority community by not celebrating victory or indulging in any undignified activity which may hurt the feelings of the other party.

STUDIED SILENCE

What, however, is causing anxiety among the Muslim masses is the studied silence of the Congress-led UPA Government on the very crucial question whether the Government would ignore or implement the judgement of the judiciary, be it from the Allahabad High Court or at the end of the day from the Supreme Court. All the concerned are concerned on the mystifying silence of the powers-that-be.

Despite several public requests and memoranda, the Central Government has not deemed it fit to announce unambiguously in Parliament that it would abide by the judicial verdict. It is almost customary now that the Government either ignores or dilutes or only partially implements the recommendations of the inquiry commissions and sadly enough it does so with the judgements of the Supreme Court also. This fact has a history. For example, the reports of Justice Srikrishna Commission, Justice Liberhan Commission, Justice U.C. Banerjee Commission have not, till date, been implemented in full. Some cosmetic touches have no doubt being given to assuage the feeling of the sufferers.

CORRUPTION IN PDS

The Apex Court has repeatedly taken serious notice of corruption in the Public Distribution System. It has given a severe dressing down to the Agriculture Minister who has shown the cheek and temerity to ignore the apex court. One does not know whether those who matter know or not that there are sections in our country who cannot buy Rs 2 a kg wheat and Rs. 3 a kg rice.

Right to Life is a fundamental right. In the famous Maneka Gandhi case the Supreme Court made it clear that Right to Life does not mean an animal existence but a life with dignity. Leaving those who die of hunger, euphemistically called malnutrition, annually in Orissa have our Government thought of farmers who have committed suicide because of chill penury and utter inability to feed their children? The problem is abject poverty does not move our State and the Central Governments. Perhaps they have also forgotten that India is a Welfare State.

The Supreme Court has passed umpteen orders for the construction of Satlej-Yamuna link canal within the Punjab. But these orders have been brazenly ignored by the State Government. The State Government has through a resolution in 2004 cancelled all the existing water sharing agreements with the neighbouring States.

Reverting back to the subject, the Muslim apprehension is: if the forthcoming judgement is found to be distasteful to the Congress-led dispensation, it would also be deposited in the safe custody of archives for future researches of scholars.