Published 14:02 IST, February 20th 2020
'It's violative of SC order': Ramdas Athawale slams Sharad Pawar's 'mosque trust' demand
As controversy broke out after NCP chief Sharad Pawar said that a mosque trust should be set up in Ayodhya, Ramdas Athawale said that it violates SC ruling
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As controversy broke out on Thursday after NCP chief Sharad Pawar said that there should be a trust for building a mosque in Ayodhya, RPI chief and Union Minister Ramdas Athawale has said that it violates SC ruling. Speaking to news agency ANI, he said that if Muslim party wants they can form their ow trust but as far as SC judgement is concerned it has only ordered the formation of the mosque.
He said: "The Supreme Court didn't give any order of forming a trust for the mosque. If Muslim party wants they can form their own trust and build a mosque there. Sharad Pawar's statement violates SC's order. I feel a Buddha mandir should be built on the premises of Ram Janmabhoomi."
NCP chief demands mosque trust
NCP chief Sharad Pawar on Wednesday demanded the Central government to form a trust for building a mosque in Ayodhya similar to the one meant to oversee the construction of Ram temple. Speaking at an event in Lucknow, Pawar said that the "country belongs to everyone" and if trust can be formed for a temple then why can't for a mosque.
Pawar said, "You can form a trust for a temple then why can't you set up a trust for the mosque. The country belongs to everyone". A five-judge bench of the Supreme Court had in November ruled unanimously in favour of Ram Lalla. It said that the entire disputed land spread over 2.7-acre will be handed over to a trust formed by the government, which will monitor the construction of Ram temple at the site.
The Ram Mandir Trust
The court had asked the government to give 5-acre land to Sunni Waqf Board in Ayodhya for the construction of a mosque in Ayodhya. On February 5, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the formation of 'Shri Ram Janambhoomi Tirath Kshetra', which would oversee the construction of Ram Temple in Ayodhya, nearly three months after the Supreme Court ruling in the decades-old case.
In the first meeting of the ‘Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teertha Kshetra' trust on Wednesday, Mahant Nritya Gopal Das and Champat Rai were elected as the President and General Secretary respectively. However, the appointment that has garnered the most buzz is that of Nripendra Misra, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s former Principal Secretary. He will head the Ram temple construction committee.
12:48 IST, February 20th 2020