NEW DELHI: Spiritual leader Sri Sri Ravi Shankar on Monday said the Supreme Court’s verdict on the Ayodhya land dispute case was welcomed by ‘one and all’ in the country as citizens have responded peacefully since the judgement was announced.
Pointing out that the past few days have been tranquil across the country, the founder of The Art of Living Foundation said “… that means people have really welcomed this great judgement. It has been welcomed by one and all.”
He was speaking at the 12th International Women Entrepreneurial Challenge (IWEC) Awards & Conference here.
The apex court, in a historic verdict on Saturday, backed the construction of a Ram temple by a government-formed trust at the disputed site in Ayodhya. It ruled that an alternative five-acre plot must be allotted for construction of a mosque in the Hindu holy town.
“It has been a long-standing, unresolved conflict between two communities. In India, it was a thorn in the harmonious relationship between two communities,” Shankar said.
The Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid dispute had been going on for over a century and has for long polarised the country and frayed the secular tapestry of Indian society.
“Today it is resolved and the same solution which I have been offering since 2003 proved to be right and the same solution has been now promulgated by the court as such,” the spiritual leader, who was part of the Supreme Court-appointed mediation panel in the Ayodhya case, said.
After the verdict was delivered on Saturday, Shankar had welcomed it, saying that the judgement had brought “joy and relief” to members of both the Hindu and Muslim communities.
“I wholeheartedly welcome the historic judgment of the Hon. Supreme Court. This has brought joy and relief to people of both communities from a long-standing dispute. #AYODHYAVERDICT,” he had tweeted.
Delivering a unanimous verdict on the politically sensitive case, a five-judge bench of the apex court headed by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi had said the faith of Hindus that Lord Ram was born at the site was undisputed, and he is symbolically the owner of the land.
The bench ruled that it was also clear that the destruction of the 16th century Babri Mosque by Hindu kar sevaks was wrong and “must be remedied”.
The judgement, running into 1,045 pages, was widely welcomed by Hindu politicians and groups, while the Muslim leadership said they will accept the verdict even though some of them described it as flawed.
Still, they called for peace and calm and leaders across the political spectrum noted that it was now time to move on. PTI
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