Babri mosque dispute: Key litigants not part of final hearing

Agencies
December 5, 2017

Ayodhya, Dec 5: The key litigants in the 25-year-old Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid dispute will not be part of the final proceedings in the Supreme Court.

The reached the local court in 1949 when Mahant Ramchandradas Paramhans approached it for allowing 'darshan and pujan' (worshipping and paying obeisance) to Ram Lalla.

In the same city, Hashim Ansari also approached the court for removing Lord Rama's statue from the Babri mosque.

While Mahant Paramhans died on July 20, 2003, Ansari died in July 2016.

As the Supreme Court takes up the final hearing, both of them will be missed, said local resident Mohammad Idris.

Ansari was a witness when idols of Ram Lalla appeared at the Babri Masjid site on the night of December 22, 1949.

He was the first to file the suit in the court of civil judge of Faizabad against the "illegal encroachment of Masjid by the Hindu Mahasabha".

With Ansari's death, an era in the Ayodhya dispute ended as he was a witness to "placing of Idols in Babri Masjid in 1949", unlocking of the disputed structure for the worship of Ram Lalla as per a court's order in 1987, demolition of the mosque in 1992 and division of the disputed land into three parts by the Lucknow High Court in 2010.

He also became the first plaintiff in the Supreme Court in 2011.

Another known figure in courts was Mahant Bhaskar Das, the chief litigant in the case and the chief priest of the Nirmohi Akhada in Ayodhya.

The Nirmohi Akhada priest had filed a claim for the ownership of Ram Janmaboomi in 1959.

Apart from being the Nirmohi Akhada sarpanch, he was the mahant of the Naka Hanuman Garhi in the temple town.

In 1959, Nirmohi Akhada's mahant Raghunath Das filed a case laying claims over Ram Janmabhoomi.

At that time, Bhaskar Das, who was in charge of rituals at Ram Chabutra on the premises, too, joined the case and filed the claim.

After the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court gave a verdict in the case on September 30, 2010, Bhaskar Das filed a petition in the Supreme Court for ownership of the entire premises. Bhaskar died in September.

Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader Ashok Singhal, who died in 2015, was considered architect of the Ram temple movement. In the 1980s Singhal became a symbol of the Ayodhya movement.

Singhal was sent to the VHP by the then RSS chief Bala Saheb Deoras in 1981.

He had launched the Ram Janki Rath Yatra in 1985 and had demanded the opening of the locks at Ram Janmabhoomi.

While the opening of the locks was ordered by the local Faizabad court, Singhal launched a movement to build a temple.

Though the matter is sub judice, these key figures and their roles will always be noted in their respective camps.

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News Network
January 3,2020

Dhaka, Jan 3: Bangladesh's paramilitary force chief said on Thursday that a total of 445 Bangladeshi nationals returned from India in last two months following the publication of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) by the Indian government.

Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) Director General Maj Gen Md Shafeenul Islam disclosed the figure during a press briefing here.

"About 1,000 people were arrested in 2019 for illegal border crossings from India to Bangladesh, with 445 of them returning home in November and December," he said.

After verifying their identities through local representatives, BGB came to know that all the intruders are Bangladeshis, Islam said, adding that 253 cases were lodged against them for illegal trespass, while initial investigations found that at least three of them were human traffickers.

The BGB Director said the trespassing did not create any tension between the border forces of Bangladesh and India.

Last week, Islam visited India where he said that the creation of the NRC is completely an "internal affair" of India and the cooperation between the border guarding forces of the two countries is very good.

He said the BGB will continue to do its work of preventing illegal border crossings as per its mandate.

A BGB delegation, led by Islam, was on a bilateral visit to India to hold DG-level border talks with its counterparts, the Border Security Force (BSF).

The talks took place from December 26-29, during which a host of issues related to cross-border smuggling and activities of criminals and others along the 4,096-km-long front were discussed.

Responding to a question, Islam said, "No discussion was held at the conference over the (NRC) issue".

He said during the five-day talks held in New Delhi, the BGB demanded that the BSF should take effective steps to prevent killings of Bangladeshis on frontiers as casualty figures sharply rose in 2019.

"The number of border killings in 2019 was highest in the last four years. As per our calculation, the number of such unexpected deaths was 35," the BGB chief said.

However, the BSF estimate of the casualty figure is much lower than our calculation, he said.

Islam said the BSF is following the policy of maintaining maximum restraint and minimal use of force even after being attacked by "armed border offenders".

A statement issued by the BSF last month in New Delhi after the conclusion of the DG-level talks said, "On the concern of the BGB regarding the death of Bangladeshi nationals on borders, it was informed to them that a non-lethal weapon policy is strictly followed by BSF personnel on borders.

"Firing is resorted to only in self-defence, when BSF patrols are gheraoed and attacked by ‘dah’ (a sharp-edged weapon) etc. It was specified that the BSF does not discriminate between criminals based on nationality," it said.

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News Network
January 12,2020

Kolkata, Jan 12: Strongly defending the new citizenship law, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Sunday the dispute that has arisen over it has made the world aware of persecution of religious minorities in Pakistan.

He, however, deplored that a section of the youth is being “misguided” over the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, which is aimed at giving and not taking away anybody's citizenship rights.

“CAA is not about taking away citizenship, it is about giving citizenship. Today, on National Youth Day, I would like to tell this to the youngsters of India, West Bengal, North East that this is not an overnight law for giving citizenship.

“We must all know that any person of any religion from any country of the world who believes in India and its Constitution can apply for Indian citizenship through due process. There's no problem in that,” he told a gathering at Belur Math, the headquarters of Ramkrishna Mission.

Modi said even Mahatma Gandhi had favoured Indian citizenship to those fleeing religious persecution and that his government has only delivered on the wishes of the freedom fighters.

Referring to anti-CAA protests in the North-East, Modi vowed to protect the distinct identity and culture of the people of the region, and asserted the new law will not hurt their interests.

“We've only done what Mahatma Gandhi had said decades ago. Should we send these refugees back to die? Are they our responsibility or not? Should we make them our citizens or not?” he said, evoking a thunderous applause by the gathering.

Modi said some people with political interests are deliberately spreading rumours about the new citizenship law, despite “complete clarity” over the CAA.

“Our initiative to amend the citizenship act has created a dispute. It is the result of our initiative that Pakistan will now have to answer why they have been persecuting minorities for the last 70 years. Human rights have been demolished in Pakistan,” he said.

Seeking to assuage the concerns of the people of the North-East, Modi called the region “our pride”. “Their culture, traditions and demography remains untouched by this amended law,” he said.

He said the citizenship law was only “changed a little” for those who were ill-treated in Pakisan after Partition.

“They were having a bitter time living there. Women were in danger of losing their pride,” he said.

“Young people have understood the whole thing but those who want to indulge in politics over it will not,” he said.

Modi said five years ago, there was disappointment among the youth of the country, but the situation has changed now.

“Not just India, the entire world has a lot of expectations from the youth of the country. The youth are not afraid of challenges....they challenge the challenges,” he said at the Belur Math, the abode of Swami Vivekananda for several years until his death in 1902, aged 39 years.

Modi, an ardent devotee of Vivekananda, spent the night at the Math.

He has a long association with the Ramkrishna Mission order founded by Vivekananda in 1897. Inspired by the teachings of Vivekananda, Modi had arrived at the Mission Ashram in Gujarat's Rajkot and expressed desire to join the order.

Swami Atmasthananda, who later went on to become the 15th president of the Ramakrishna Math and the Ramakrishna Mission, then headed the Rajkot branch and had advised him that sanyas was not for him and that he should work among people.

During those days, Modi used to regularly meet Atmasthananda and sought his spiritual guidance.

Although Modi went back after spending some time there his the relationship with Swami Atmasthananda and the Ramkrishna Mission continued.

Whenever Modi used to visit Kolkata, even during his days as Gujarat chief minister, he would travel to the Math.

In 2013, during his Kolkata visit, he had gone to Belur and sought the blessings from Atmasthananda.

He had in 2015 called on ailing Swami Atmasthananda at Ramakrishna Mission Seva Pratisthan, a hospital run by the Mission in south Kolkata and enquired about his health.

After Atmasthananda's death in 2017, Prime Minister Modi had termed it as a “personal loss”.

On Sunday, the prime minister paid tributes to Swami Vivekananda on his birth anniversary, which is celebrated as the National Youth Day, and spent some time in the spiritual leader's room in quietude.

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News Network
January 27,2020

Kolkata, Jan 27: The West Bengal government on Monday tabled a resolution against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act in the Assembly.

The resolution appeals to the Union government to repeal the amended citizenship law and revoke plans to implement NRC and update NPR.

As per reports, state Parliamentary Affairs Minister Partha Chatterjee introduced the resolution in the House around 2 pm.

Three states - Kerala, Rajasthan and Punjab - have already passed resolutions against the new citizenship law.

The law has emerged as the latest flashpoint in the state, with the TMC opposing the contentious legislation tooth and nail, and the BJP pressing for its implementation.

The new citizenship law has emerged as the latest flashpoint in the state, with the TMC opposing the contentious legislation tooth and nail, and the BJP pressing for its implementation.

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