New Delhi: In a cautious response to the Allahabad High Court order for excavation
at the disputed site in Ayodhya, the Opposition parties and secular allies of
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on March 5 said it should be accepted by all, while the
Sangh Parivar outfits welcomed it.
"It is a court order. The matter is under adjudication. It has been the stand of
Congress that the judicial verdict should be accepted and respected by all
concerned," Congress spokesman Anand Sharma said.
Communist party of India-Marxist (CPM) leader Somnath Chatterjee said he was not
disputing the order, but wondered what prompted it to take the decision.
"I don't know what prompted, what persuaded the Court. What are the reasons which
found favour with it," he said.
Welcoming the order, BJP spokesman Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said, "It is a positive
development towards the resolution of the Babri Masjid-Ram Janambhoomi dispute. BJP
has always wanted the issue to be resolved at the earliest possible, either through
negotiations or through court verdict."
Telugu Desam Party (TDP) leader K Yerrannaidu said everybody should accept the court
order and that the Law of the land was supreme.
Samata Party general secretary Shambhu Shrivastav said the order should be respected
and added that only the Supreme Court was the competent authority to intervene in
the matter.
The Rashtreeya Svayamsevak Sangh (RSS) said it was "happy" about the order and
expected all parties concerned to co-operate with its implementation.
"We believe this will help the court in securing a very significant evidence on the
dispute. We are quite confident that our case that a temple existed before the
mosque was built will be strengthened by the excavation," RSS joint spokesman Ram
Madhav said over telephone from Nagpur.
Welcoming the court order, Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) senior vice-president Acharya
Giriraj Kishore said it would help in realising the ground realities.
PTI
