SP REVIVES BABRI ISSUE, MUSLIMS ACCUSE IT OF OPPORTUNISM

After snapping ties with Kalyan Singh, the Samajwadi Party has decided to revive the issue of Babri Masjid once again. On December 6, at the 17^th anniversary of the demolition, SP will launch a campaign to inform Muslims about the injustice meted out by successive Congress regimes against the minorities, party general secretary Amar Singh announced on November 17, while speaking at a function held to honour Abu Asim Azmi, Samajwadi Party MLA. Azmi, who will lead the campaign by addressing public meetings at selected places in the state, said the party would settle for nothing less than the reconstruction of Babri Masjid at the original site, as promised by the then Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao in 1992. Amar Singh said, “The Congress had promised to reconstruct the Babri Masjid and the promise was made by none other then Prime Minister PV Narasihma Rao. What prevents the Congress from fulfilling its promise?” Muslim organisations however accused Samajwadi Party of indulging in opportunism for its own political ends. Muslim leaders said the SP demand for reconstruction of the Babri Masjid at the site where it stood in Ayodhya before its demolition shows the party’s desperation to win back Muslim support. Jafaryab Jilani, convener of the All India Babri Masjid Action Committee, said: “Mulayam Singh Yadav will never be able to regain the support of the Muslims by raking up the Babri Masjid issue. We have never demanded the construction of the mosque at Ayodhya before the settlement of the land title issue by court.” Jilani is also member of All India Muslim Personal Law Board.