Ahead of the foundation stone laying ceremony for Ram temple in Ayodhya, the All India Muslim personal Law Board (AIMPLB) questioned the Supreme Court judgement in Ayodhya. On Twitter, it told its followers that there is “no need to be heartbroken”.
“#BabriMasjid was and will always be a Masjid. #HagiaSophia is a great example for us. Usurpation of the land by an unjust, oppressive, shameful and majority appeasing judgment can’t change it’s status. No need to be heartbroken. Situations don’t last forever,” the AIMPLB tweet said.
The tweet also carried a press statement as attachment.
The AIMPLB was among the litigants which had filed a review petition against the Supreme Court judgement in the Ayodhya case in November last year. The court had also directed the central government to allot a five-acre plot of land in Ayodhya for construction of a mosque.
AIMPLB said it will not accept the alternative five-acre land. Another Muslim body, the Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind (JUH), had said that they opposed the unanimous Supreme Court decision.
The AIMPLB was not a party to the case but had roped in three litigants – Mohammad Umar Khalid, a resident of Ayodhya town; Misbahuddin, a resident of Ayodhya district and Mehfusur Rehman, a resident of Tanda town in Ambedkar Nagar district – to file the review petition.
However, all the review petitions were dismissed by the top court.
The 136-year-old Ayodhya dispute ratcheted up communal tensions on December 6, 1992 when a mob scaled the Babri Masjid and demolished it, triggering a cycle of violence that killed at least 2,000 people across India. Many Hindus believe the site was the birthplace of warrior god Ram, and the 16th-century mosque was built after pulling down a temple dedicated to Ram.
In 2010, the Allahabad high court ordered the land be distributed equally to the Nirmohi Akhara, Ram Lalla and the Sunni Central Waqf Board. But a five-judge Supreme Court bench, led by former Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi, unanimously set aside the high court ruling and awarded title of the land to Ram Lalla. It also ordered the government to set up a trust to oversee management of the site and the construction of a temple, and awarded five acres of land at an alternative site for a mosque.
