TEMPLE: SC IN NO RUSH, BJP IS

Puts off hearing to January, Right Wing greets it with demand for Ordinance

The Supreme Court Bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi on Monday deferred the hearing on the Ayodhya title suit to January. The Bench did not specify a date even when pressed for clarity by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who appeared for the Centre.

In an election year this would mean even greater clamour for a Ram Temple from hard line right wing groups, either by Ordinance or by order, much to the discomfort of the BJP.

Gogoi also didn't say whether they will hear the case or the matter will go before another Bench. He merely ordered listing of the matter before an "appropriate Bench," indicating that he may not even be one of the judges that will decide on the decades-old dispute.

‘‘We have other priorities," said Gogoi, when the Uttar Pradesh government argued that it was a 100-year-old issue that should be taken up on priority by the government.

All that the court may do in January is to fix the date for a regular hearing and decide whether it shall be a day-to-day hearing or not. That is a sure indication that the matter may drag well past the 2019 election.

All the three judges on the Bench, which finished dictating the order within two minutes without hearing any side, are new to the case since it was another Bench of then Chief Justice Dipak Misra,

along with Justices Ashok Bhushan and S. Abdul Nazeer, that on September 27, by a 2:1 majority, rejected the plea to send the case to a Constitution Bench.

Predictably, soon after the hearing, Union minister Giriraj Singh sounded an ominous warning, saying he feared the consequences that would ensue if there was a further delay in building the temple. “Ab Hinduon ka sabr toot raha hai. Mujhe bhay hai ki Hinduon ka sabr tuta toh kya hoga (Hindus are losing patience now. I am afraid of what would follow),” the Minister of State for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises said, adding that the court was not needed to solve the dispute. BJP leader Vinay Katiyar alleged that the issue was being delayed "under pressure" from the Congress, which denied the charge. Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut said Ram temple was an article of faith and demanded that the government comes out with an ordinance soon. "It is a matter of faith. The court cannot decide on this. The government should bring an ordinance," he said.The pressure on the BJP to bring an Ordinance has mounted ever since RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, in his annual Vijayadashmi address, asked the government to construct one without delay.

Under challenge before the Apex Court are a batch of petitions challenging the 2010 Allahabad High Court verdict trifurcating the disputed 2.77-acre site in Ayodhya into three parts – one each for Ram Lalla, Nirmohi Akhara and the original Muslim litigant.

Today’s decision has one obvious implication. The Ayodhya judgement will not come anytime soon and it will not have any effect on the ongoing Assembly elections in five states.

In fact, the Hindu hardliners suspect that the judgment may not come even before the Lok Sabha elections in April-May, meeting the demand of senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal before the previous Bench to defer the case after the elections.

Others like BJP MP Dr Subamanian Swamy said it gives time to the Modi government to bring an Ordinance for constructing the Ram Temple at the site in deference to the demand from RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat and many Hindutva leaders. They say the government may even get a law enacted for the purpose in the winter session of Parliament expected in December.

Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram fears that the ruling BJP may seize the opportunity to polarise the society, as nobody can prevent the government's right to promulgate any Ordinance.