PM thanks people for showing maturity post Ayodhya verdict

“The patience, restraint and maturity displayed by the people after the Supreme Court delivered its verdict in the Ayodhya case proves that there is nothing bigger than national interest for Indians”

-Narendra Modi, PM

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New Delhi, November 24

“I never had the desire to enter politics, but since I am part of it now, I give my best on how to work for the people,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Sunday. Interacting with a group of National Cadet Corps cadets during his “Mann ki Baat” radio programme, Modi said as an NCC cadet in his schooldays, he never got punished.

The PM thanked the people for showing maturity after the Ayodhya verdict. “The patience, restraint and maturity displayed by the people after the Supreme Court delivered its verdict in the Ayodhya case proves that there is nothing bigger than national interest for Indians” he said.

He also said after the “historic verdict”, the country had moved ahead on a new path, with a new resolve.

“The resolve … full of new hopes and aspirations. It is my hope and wish that New India imbibes this feeling and forges ahead in a spirit of peace, unity and goodwill.”

Settling a fractious issue, that goes back more than a century, the Supreme Court in a historic verdict on November 9 backed the construction of a Ram temple by a trust at the disputed site in Ayodhya and ruled that an alternative five-acre plot must be found for a mosque in the holy town.

In his last Mann ki Baat address on Diwali, Modi had referred to the 2010 Allahabad High Court judgment on the Ayodhya issue. He had recalled how the government, civil society and people had maintained peace and harmony then. “This time too, when the Supreme Court pronounced its judgment on November 9, 130 crore Indians once again proved, that for them, national interest is supreme. The values of peace, unity and goodwill are paramount in our country.” He said the SC verdict was “embraced” with open arms.

“They accepted the verdict with ease and with peace… I am particularly grateful to them for the patience, restraint and maturity shown by them,” he said.

The PM was of the view that while on the one hand a protracted legal battle had ended, on the other the respect for judiciary had grown. “In the truest sense, this verdict has also proved to be a milestone for the judiciary in our country,” he said. — PTI