NEW DELHI: BJP leader Subramanian Swamy on Monday moved a fresh petition before the Supreme Court seeking its directions to allow the construction of a Ram temple at the disputed site in Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh.
Swamy mentioned the fresh plea before a bench headed by Chief Justice T S Thakur stating that under the practices prevalent in Islamic countries a mosque could be shifted to any other place for public purposes, such as construction of roads, whereas a temple once constructed could not be touched.
However, the bench said the matter would be listed before the bench that was already hearing matters related to the temple-mosque dispute. “If the concerned bench deems it fit to hear the matter separately, it will hear. But if it decides to tag the matter, it is for the concerned bench,” the bench said.
Swamy’s petition states, “A temple and a masjid cannot be considered on par as far as sacredness is concerned. A masjid is not an essential part of Islam religion, according to the above majority judgment of a Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court, whereas according to the House of Lords, U K (1991), the temple is always a temple even if in disuse or ruins. Thus, the fundamental truth is that the Ram temple on Ram Janmabhoomi has an overriding claim to the site than any mosque.”
Swamy also sought directions from the court to expedite the disposal of several petitions, that had been admitted by the Supreme Court earlier, challenging the Allahabad High Court’s verdict of a three-way division of the disputed Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid site in Ayodhya on September 30, 2010.
Last year, the Supreme Court bench had also allowed for the polythene sheet at the disputed site to be covered with six inches of soil.
While ordering status quo at the location — which means that prayers at Ram Lalla’s makeshift temple at the disputed site in Ayodhya were permitted to continue as usual — the apex court had also restrained any kind of religious activity on the adjacent 67 acre land, which had been taken over by the Government of India.