BJP, Congress in war of words over Sibal told SC on Babri Masjid
NEW DELHI : A political war of words has broken out over the statements that Congress leader Kapil Sibal made in the Supreme Court as part of the hearing on the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid case. The BJP has demanded that the Congress clarify what Sibal meant when he asked the court to conduct its hearing after the 2019 Lok Sabha election.
Sibal was in the apex court as the lawyer for the Sunni Waqf Board. He urged to court to take up the 25-year-old matter up only after July 2019. The rationale, he said on behalf of his clients, was that the case was being used to polarise the electorate with an eye on the polls.
Supreme Court on Tuesday deferred the commencement of final hearing in the Ayodhya title dispute to 8th February, 2018. The court further instructed all the advocates appearing for all the parties to ‘work in harmony and see that all the relevant documents are ready and filed’, after counsel for Sunni Waqf Board, Kapil Sibal submitted that some exhibits and documents pertaining to the title suit have not be filed and served by the parties.
The court also rejected Sibal’s plea to postpone the hearing to July 2019 i.e. post the Lok Sabha elections. He argued that the court’s judgement in the present case are bound to have political and social ramifications. Sibal was appearing on behalf of the Sunni Waqf Board.
A specially constituted bench of chief justice Dipak Misra and justices Ashok Bhushan and Abdul Nazeer today began hearing into a total of 13 appeals filed against the 2010 judgement of the Allahabad high court in four civil suits.
The high court had then ruled a three-way division of the disputed 2.77 acre area at Ayodhya among the parties—the Sunni Waqf Board, the Nirmohi Akhara and the Lord Ram Lalla. Here are the latest updates:
Congress should clear its stand on this,” said BJP president Amit Shah, at a press conference in poll-bound Gujarat. He also took a shot at Congress chief-in-waiting Rahul Gandhi, who has been facing allegations of ‘soft Hindutva’ to appeal to voters in the coming Gujarat Assembly elections.
“Rahul ji is visiting temples in Gujarat but on the other hand Kapil Sibal is being used to delay Ram janmbhoomi case. Rahul ji should tell us what his view on this is,” Shah said.
The Congress responded by washing its hands of what Sibal said in court. “Who he represents in court is Kapil Sibal’s personal matter. Congress has nothing to do with it,” said party spokesperson Randeep Surjewala.
“Arun Jaitley ji was lawyer in Bhopal gas tragedy. Does that mean the whole of BJP is to be blamed?” he counterattacked. “Congress’s stand has always been clear, that Ayodhya case will be decided by the Supreme Court,” he added.
(With Agency Inputs ).
