Modi lashes out at Sibal on Ayodhya
MESSY BUSINESS PM questions politicisation of case in Supreme Court; not our lawyer, clarifies UP Waqf board
AHMEDABAD/LUCKNOW: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday lashed out at the Congress for linking the Babri Masjid-Ram Janmabhoomi case to the 2019 elections, making Ayodhya one of the talking points of his election campaign in Ahmedabad. “Do you want to keep the issue unresolved for political gain or loss in the elections?” he asked the Congress.
Modi was referring to the lawyer Kapil Sibal’s plea in the Supreme Court on Tuesday asking that the case not be heard before the 2019 elections because its outcome could have a bearing on that poll. The court didn’t accept his argument.
Sibal, a former Union minister in the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance that governed India between 2004 and 2014, was appearing for one of the litigants in the case, but the Congress was quick to clarify on Wednesday that his plea was not consistent with its stand.
Congress leader Anand Sharma said his party was not a litigant in the dispute, and would accept whatever decision the Supreme Court made.
“Congress is clear that the matter is before the Supreme Court and our party will support whatever the court says. The prime minister should decide if he is giving any direction to the Supreme Court,” Sharma said.
Interestingly, the Congress wasn’t the only one seeking to dissociate itself from Sibal’s plea. In a statement to news agencies, Haji Mehboob, a litigant, said he was a member of the UP Sunni Wakf Board, and that Sibal was “our lawyer”, but that his plea in court was “wrong”.