Officially, the Bharatiya Janata Party, the ruling party at the Centre and in Uttar Pradesh, says it has nothing to do with Sangh Parivar programmes to mark the anniversary of the Babri Masjid demolition on Saturday. But the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and associated Sangh Parivar outfits have, in the months since the Modi government came to power, cranked up their machinery to keep the issue alive.
A Ram temple cannot be built as long as the case remains in the Supreme Court.
Just ahead of the first Babri Masjid demolition anniversary after the new government came to power, Hashim Ansari, the oldest litigant in the case, said he wanted to distance himself from the petition.
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But local activists in Faizabad say that Mr. Ansari’s change of heart has more to do with his problems with Samajwadi Party leader Mohammad Azam Khan and his newfound friendship with the Mahant of Hanumangarhi in Ayodhya. Indeed, there are reports that Mr. Ansari and the Mahant will shortly be visiting Delhi to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
On November 17 in Patna, VHP leader Pravin Togadia said the organisation would use all its resources and energy to construct a grand Ram temple, stressing it would raise the issue before the BJP at the “right time.”
On November 22, at the World Hindu Congress in the national capital, VHP leader Ashok Singhal said his organisation, along with other Hindu forces in the country, had achieved the objective of creating an “invincible Hindu society.”
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Zafarayab Jilani, member of the Babri Masjid Action Committee, said: “A settlement is possible only through the courts, not through dialogue.” The Hyderabad-based United Muslim Forum late on Tuesday resolved to continue its fight within the parameters of the Constitution to prove the right of Muslims over Babri Masjid.
The meeting was addressed by AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi whose party won a few Assembly seats in Maharashtra and now has political ambitions in Uttar Pradesh.