Hypocrisy? Ex-BJP Yashwant Sinha takes high moral ground over Ayodhya

Former Union Minister and ex-BJP leader Yashwant Sinha had a message on the Ayodhya verdict of the Supreme Court that might not have found ground had he still been in the Saffron party. Taking to Twitter, Sinha wrote, "Thank God for the Ayodhya judgment. It will close the shop of all those who used it for politics all these years. The issue is behind us and the media too needs to behave more responsibly like the rest of us."

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Estranged veteran

Sinha's remarks do carry with them more than a hint of hypocrisy seeing as he, being a former and long-time senior leader of the BJP, was closely attached to the rise of leaders like LK Advani during the early 1990s when the Advani-led Ram Janmabhoomi movement was at its peak. Sinha also enjoyed portfolios like Finance and External Affairs in the BJP-led government of Atal Bihari Vajpayee of 1998-2004. He was seen as a key figure in the Sangh Pariwar's Swadeshi economic plank. Until his abrupt resignation in 2018 with a heavy heart against the Modi-Shah leadership, he was part of a political party that saw its meteoric rise on the plank of the Ayodhya movement. Through the period, and even till now, constructing the Ram Mandir has remained a feature in the BJP manifesto.

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Supreme Court's Ayodhya verdict

Pronouncing the landmark judgment in the Ayodhya dispute case, the Supreme Court on Saturday, delivered a unanimous judgment in the title suit of the disputed area awarding it 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. 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 Centre or the State, 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.

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