BENGALURU: Denizens of India's tech hub on Saturday expressed divergent views on the historic judgement of the Supreme Court on the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid title dispute at Ayodha in Uttar Pradesh and lauded the people for remaining calm and maintaining peace.
A voxpop of the people, especially young techies in the famous Cubbon Park in the city centre, showed the weekend was like any other with no tension, disruption or untoward incident following the verdict.
Earlier in the day, a five-member constitutional bench of the apex court, headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, delivered the judgement in New Delhi, directing the central government to hand over the disputed land to the Hindus for building a Ram temple by a state-run Trust.
Expressing sigh over the end to the decades-old dispute, multinational firm's software engineer Suruchi Solanki said she was relieved over the verdict, as hundreds of people suffered and lost their life since the 16th century structure was demolished on December 6, 1992 by the right-wing activists.
"I appreciate the people for remaining calm and peaceful, without getting excited or saddened by the Ayodhya verdict. People should focus on development to reverse the slowdown in the economy," Solanki, who hails from Agra in Uttar Pradesh, told IANS.
She also recalled how the people in Uttar Pradesh took out a black-flag rallies in cities and towns across the northern state when the Allahabad High Court trifurcated the disputed land where the controversial structure stood.
Data analyst Nutan Sahu, who hails from Odisha, said the disputed land should not be tagged on to a particular sect when there are so many communities and creeds.
"The apex court judgement divides the people on religious lines and splits communities though we are all one and live in the same country. What if someone else crops up staking claim over the holy land," Sahu reiterated.
Hoping that parties that were claimants for the disputed site would accept the verdict faithfully and put an end to decades' old bitterness, software geek Sashi Prakash Gautam, who hails from Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh, said the judgement should not be viewed as a victory or defeat.
"None should turn the verdict into a win or loss. All should accept it gracefully and live peacefully," Gautam told IANS.
Ernst and Young (E&Y) employee Shweta Srivastav felt the disputed land should have been used to build a hospital or growing trees than giving it for building a temple where a mosque stood for over 5 centuries.
"Anybody could have gone there, irrespective of caste, creed and religion if the disputed land has been converted into a park for all as it had witnessed a lot of controversies," said Shewata from Vadodra in Gujarat.