BJP slams NCP's Sharad Pawar for 'comparing Ram to Babur' while demanding Mosque trust

BJP leader and former Lok Sabha MP Kirit Somaiya took to microblogging website Twitter and slammed Sharad Pawar for comparing Ram Mandir to Babri Masjid in his speech at Lucknow. This comes as the NCP supremo while in Lucknow on Wednesday, February 20, said that if there is a trust for Ram temple, there should have been one for Masjid as well. Somaiya criticised Pawar’s statement and said, “comparing Ram to Babur is not acceptable”. 

Kirit Somaiya criticises Sharad Pawar 

Talking about the statements made by Sharad Pawar in Lucknow, Kirit Somaiya said, “Sharad Pawar has compared Ram Janmabhoomi Mandir to Babri Masjid and it is deeply disturbing. If the Supreme Court has given a certain direction, it is because India’s 125 crore people wanted Ram Temple in the place of Babri Masjid. Modi government respects the Supreme Court’s decision. If NCP, Congress and Shiv Sena want to do something else for the Muslims they should go ahead and do it. Mumbai’s Haji Ali Dargah got Rs 35 crore; they also receive subsidies. However, comparing Ram to Babur is not acceptable.” 

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Sharad Pawar’s statement in Lucknow 

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Ayodhya Verdict  

Pronouncing the landmark judgment in the Ayodhya dispute case, the Supreme Court on November 9, delivered a unanimous judgment in the title suit of the disputed area. The apex court awarded the land to the Hindu parties for the construction of a temple. It also directed the Centre to come up with a scheme within three months to set up a trust which will hand over the outer courtyard and inner courtyard of the site for construction of a temple.  

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Apart from this, the SC stated that an alternate land of 5 acres is to be allotted to Muslims for the liberty of constructing a mosque, either by the central govt or the State govt, in a suitable and prominent place in Ayodhya. CJI Ranjan Gogoi, while delivering the unanimous judgment, dismissed the claims of the Sunni Central Waqf Board and the Nirmohi Akhara. He also termed that the three-way division of the disputed land by the Allahabad HC in its 2010 verdict is wrong. The trust met for the first time on Wednesday, while PM Modi's former Principal Secretary Nripendra Misra has been appointed chief of the construction committee.

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