Muslims should accept SC verdict, says VHP

Mumbai, November 17

The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) today said the Muslim community should accept the Supreme Court’s verdict in the Ayodhya dispute, and claimed that Mahatma Gandhi had made a similar appeal in the case of Somnath Temple.

The statement by VHP general secretary Milind Parande came soon after the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) favoured seeking a review of the Ayodhya judgment.

Parande also said similar disputes about religious sites in Kashi and Mathura were not on the VHP’s agenda.

“Mahatma Gandhi had made a similar appeal to Muslims, urging them to accept the decision of the then Union government to reconstruct the Somnath temple (which had been destroyed in the earlier centuries) in Gujarat,” he claimed here.

“Gandhi had said Muslims should accept the decision or it would give the wrong message that their attachment lies with the destructors of the temple,” he said.

Gandhi had expressed this view in his newspaper “Harijan”, he further claimed.

“As the court’s decision on the Ramjanmabhoomi is unanimous, I think there is no need for review petition,” the VHP leader said.

Parande also said the VHP and other orrganisations which were agitating for the temple were now waiting for the Union government to set up a trust — as directed by the SC — for the temple construction. — PTI