Maintain peace after Supreme Court verdict: Groups

BENGALURU: With the Supreme Court set to deliver its verdict in the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid title dispute in the next eight working days, leaders and members of several secular organisations met here on Sunday under the initiative, 'People for Peace and Justice'.

A gathering of intellectuals, thinkers, activists and lawyers asserted that the verdict should be respected by everyone and peace and harmony should be maintained. The event was held at the Institution of Agricultural Technologists on Queen's Road.

Former state advocate-general Prof Ravivarma Kumar lamented that “barring the S.R. Bommai case, the courts appear to have ruled in favour of the pro-temple position.”

He was critical of the use of essential religious practices test in the 1994 Supreme Court judgement that “downgraded Muslim claims to the disputed site by holding that Muslims could offer namaz anywhere (so why insist on that piece of land?) and that mosques were not an essential part of Islam.” He suggested that since the dispute is essentially over land, the Limitations Case should have applied. He asked if the SC will also hold those who demolished the masjid and triggered violence accountable. He appealed to the people to maintain peace and communal harmony irrespective of the verdict. “We cannot let violence take place or let blood flow again," he said.

Thinker Abdur Rahman Bidarkundi pointed out that while politics seeks to divide people along communal lines, harmony remains the essence of the everyday life of common people. The Karnataka Dalit Sangharsha Samithi (Bheemavada) state convener R. Mohanraju drew attention to the worrying pattern of Hindutva forces chipping away at the constitutional principles without amending the constitution. "I wonder why December 6 was chosen for the demolition of the mosque and if it was to downplay the significance of Babasaheb Ambedkar’s mahaparinirvan diwas (death anniversary). If the existing Chief Justice was not retiring on November 17, maybe the judgement would have been passed on November 26, the day the Indian Constitution was adopted."

Writer Mamata Sagar, V. Nagaraj of DSS, Chenna Krishnappa of KSSD, Advocate Akhila Vidyasandra, Akshatha Dar of Karnataka Sexual Minorities Forum, and Ravi S. Gautam also spoke.