Here are just todays news concerning Babri Mosque.Besides politics of hndutva vis a vis with Indian Muslim,kashmir ,pakistan,TNT(two ntion theory)HOW is a muslim far away comes to term when he /she hears such news.I dont think ever a mosque or temple or church been converted into some thing else or is it?
CENTRE TESTS WATERS FOR AYODHYA TALKS
FROM RASHEED KIDWAI
New Delhi, Dec. 19:
Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee’s call for a negotiated, out-of-court
settlement of the Ayodhya dispute has drawn a full-throated “yes” from
Hindutva hardliners, a firm “no” from hawkish Muslim organisations and a
tentative “may be” from moderate Muslims.
Government sources said John Joseph, a member of the National Minorities
Commission, is liaising with some Muslim organisations in a bid to bring
them to the negotiations table. It is in this context that Vajpayee’s
Rajya Sabha statement that unconditional talks will be held assumes
significance. Vajpayee today acknowledged that some effort “outside the
ambit of the government” was being made.
Sources said talks between two community leaders will begin in January
first week. One of the formulae mooted by Joseph envisages Muslim
organisations agreeing to hand over the disputed land to the Ram
Janmabhoomi trust in exchange of land for a mosque in a “nearby area”.
Moderate Muslim organisations want to know if “nearby” means within
“panchkosi” (five km) of the temple or outside it. “If it means away
from Ayodhya, it means nothing and no serious talks can be held.
However, if the idea is to resolve the dispute once and for all, the
mosque should be adjacent to the proposed temple,” a prominent leader
said.
Radical Muslim leaders Syed Shahabuddin and Maulana Obaid Ullah Azmi,
however, said they had no information about talks being held to resolve
the dispute. “Only the All-India Muslim Personal Law Board has the
mandate to hold negotiations, but to the best of my knowledge there has
been no formal or informal contact,” Azmi told The Telegraph.
Babri Masjid Movement Coordination Committee convener Shahabuddin, too,
adopted a tough posture, saying the disputed land in Ayodhya is “not for
sale at any price”.
The former MP, who spearheaded the Babri movement before the mosque was
razed, reacted sharply to the RSS proposal to “buy” land in Ayodhya.
“Any construction activity for the proposed mandir, anywhere in the
disputed area, whether outside the Babri masjid site or otherwise, is
unlawful so long as the site plan subsumes the Babri masjid site and
covers any part of the disputed area,” he said.
He said the Centre cannot release or gift any part of the acquired land
against the existing status quo order of the Supreme Court and before
Allahahad High Court gives its judgment in the disputed land title case.
“The Babri masjid committee suggests to the RSS that the first step for
the VHP trust is to revise the site plan of the mandir to exclude the
disputed land and, in particular, the Babri masjid site,” he said.
Shahabuddin was responding to a statement by RSS spokesman M.G. Vaidya
that the Centre should decontrol the land acquired by it at Ayodhya and
hand it over to the Ram Janambhoomi trust, the original owners.
The Jagatguru Shankaracharya of Prayag Peeth, Swami Madhavnand
Saraswati, has also offered to mediate. The seer is in touch with
Jamiat-e-Ulema Hind, a prominent Muslim organisation.
ATAL RAPS ALLIES FOR CROSSING THE LIMIT
FROM OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
New Delhi, Dec. 19:
Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee today exhorted his allies to keep a
“national perspective” after their attack on his Ayodhya statements left
both him and the government red-faced.
Voicing displeasure over them “exceeding the limit”, he said that
whatever their “political compulsions” on the temple issue, they should
exercise “restraint” while stating their views.
Vajpayee said at a meeting of the BJP Parliamentary Party that though
the allies had “regional interests” to take care of, they should bear in
mind “national interests” which are of utmost importance, party
spokesman V.K. Malhotra said.
Vajpayee’s remarks come in the wake of the attack on his temple
statements by allies Trinamul Congress and the Telugu Desam. Both
parties had alleged that his statements sparked communal tension in some
parts of the country.
Desam Parliamentary Party leader Yerran Naidu was quick to counter
Vajpayee’s remark. “We never crossed the limits. If anythi-ng beyond the
NDA agenda crops up, it is our duty to express our views. It is the duty
of political parties to react. We have a right to. It is a coalition
government,” he said.
Malhotra said Vajpayee had reiterated that the Ayodhya issue could be
resolved either through a court verdict or by dialogue between the
communities.
Vajpayee thanked the allies for backing the government on the Lok Sabha
censure motion, and appreciated that they did not “fall into the trap of
the Congress”. This “had strengthened” the NDA, Malhotra quoted him as
saying. Vajpayee added that the government had no role to play in
resolving the Ayodhya issue.
Vajpayee said that if the Opposition had not stalled proceedings in
Parliament, there would have been no need for him to speak on it outside
the House.
He said home minister L.K. Advani had been deputed to forge a consensus
among allies on the women’s reservation Bill. The Bill is likely to come
up in the Lok Sabha on Thursday.
“Though there appears to be some movement in the direction of evolving a
consensus among allies on the Bill, they appear to have some misgivings
on reservation for other backward classes,” Malhotra said.
“No consensus has yet been evolved on the Bill and Advani has felt that
there should be consensus among allies before discussing it with other
political parties,” Malhotra said.
On the government’s defeat in the Rajya Sabha on the temple motion,
Malhotra said: “It was expected as we do not have a majority in the
Upper House. But the Prime Minister is the leader in the Lok Sabha and
it is the outcome in the Lok Sabha that matters.”
Malhotra said he had no information that some allies, led by Trinamul
Congress leader Mamata Banerjee, were planning to float a secular front.
UMA PINS BLAME ON KAR SEVAKS
FROM OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
New Delhi, Dec. 19:
Singing a different tune on her alleged involvement in inciting kar
sevaks on the day the Babri masjid was brought down, sports minister Uma
Bharti today indicated that she was nowhere near the structure when the
mob was trying to demolish it.
Bharti chose to forget the much-publicised photograph near the
demolished mosque in which she is seen hugging Murli Manohar Joshi. At
the time the masjid was being brought down, Bharti was quoted as having
said “Ek dhakka aur do…”.
Deposing before the Liberhan Commission, the chargesheeted BJP leader
laid the demolition blame on kar sevaks alone and sought to clear senior
colleagues L.K. Advani and Joshi.
Bharti told Justice (retd) M.S. Liberhan that the angry kar sevaks
refused to listen to appeals from Advani, Joshi and then VHP general
secretary Ashok Singhal, who wanted them to dismount from the dome of
the mosque.
Bharti said that when she was called to address the crowd from the Ram
Katha Kunj manch, a makeshift dais facing the masjid, she saw a number
of people climbing atop the dome. According to her, she did not deliver
the speech and instead brought to the notice of Advani, Joshi and
Singhal the manner in which the kar sevaks had proceeded to the
structure.
“They were shocked. They started appealing to the people to get down.
But in the din caused by the massive crowd, the appeal could not reach
the people who were already atop the dome,” she said.
However, she added, upon instructions from party leaders, she went to
the rear portion of the mosque with a public address system in hand, but
was told by the kar sevaks “to go to hell”.
NAIDU SLAMS DELHI FOCUS ON TEMPLE
FROM OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
Hyderabad, Dec. 19:
Blaming all parties for wasting time on an “irrelevant” temple, Andhra
Pradesh chief minister N. Chandrababu Naidu today stepped up the farmer
offensive and charged the Food Corporation of India with pursuing a
“partisan and negative” policy.
Naidu, facing a farmer backlash in the wake of a glut that spread panic,
said the corporation was not buying grain as promised by the Prime
Minister and the Union food minister.
Only 11,000 tonnes of paddy have been purchased till now, though the
corporation’s quota was 3 lakh tonnes, he said.
The Centre’s promise to lift the excess foodgrain was seen as a price it
paid for Naidu’s concurrence to drop insistence on a steeper cut in oil
prices.
Asked whether he was contemplating any action against the Centre, Naidu
said he would “not keep silent”, but before that he would monitor the
procurement. “I will not keep silent if the interests of the farmers or
the state are deliberately ignored by the corporation or the NDA
government,” he said.
An initially reticent Naidu castigated both the Centre and the
Opposition for harping on the Ayodhya dispute and ignoring the plight of
the farmers.
“I am attacking the Centre and the Opposition as both are responsible
for diverting attention from real issues. We were not given proper
opportunity to raise farmers’ issue in Parliament,” he said.
Naidu’s party has yesterday kicked up a storm in the House over the
issue.
“I don’t know why the people are bothered about a temple which has no
relevance to the present situation. One should not waste Parliament time
on issues which will not help the people at large in any manner,” he
said.
BJP BERTHS TOP ELECTION-YEAR BLITZ LIST
FROM ELLA DATTA
New Delhi, Dec. 19:
If political parties splurged on advertising their virtues in
election-year 1999, so did the incumbent BJP-led government.
Figures publicised in Parliament reveal that the Union government pumped
an additional Rs 16 crore into print advertisements last year.
Various ministries spent as much as Rs 81.13 crore in 1999-2000, against
Rs 65 crore in 1998-1999, on advertisements in newspapers and
periodicals issued through the Directorate of Advertising and Visual
Publicity.
A break-up of the bill sheds light on which ministry spent the extra Rs
16 crore in the crucial year when the ruling coalition went to the
hustings.
The big spenders were the ministries of health and welfare, personnel,
public grievances and pension, communications, ministry of home,
ministries of human resources development, science and technology, power
and space and atomic energy.
Compared to the jumps in so me departments, the spurt in the adspend of
the information and broadcasting ministry was moderate. The ministry
hiked its bill by only Rs 48 lakh to Rs 10.68 crore.
The expenditure of the power ministry, headed by the then BJP minister
R. Kumaramangalam, shot up to Rs 14.57 lakh from Rs 1.99 lakh. Health
and welfare, another BJP berth, spent Rs 10.2 crore — almost thrice more
than the previous year’s Rs 3.70 crore.
The home ministry, headed by L.K. Advani, spent little less than double
the amount of the previous year. The ad expenses were Rs 7.09 crore,
compared with Rs 4.26 crore earlier. The ministry of science and
technology, again a BJP portfolio, forked out Rs 3.12 crore — three
times that of the previous year.
The finance ministry under Yashwant Sinha, who has been pleading for
belt-tightening in the government, was among the few which practised
what they preached. It managed to lower the amount to Rs 4.85 crore from
Rs 5.83 crore.
Some of the key allies also figure among the big spenders. George
Fernandes’ defence went up by Rs 1 crore to Rs 9. 44 crore, while Ram
Vilas Paswan’s communications doubled its bill to Rs 3.46 crore.
However, majority of the ministries which stepped up the adspend belongs
to the BJP. Many of these ministries are responsible for communicating
social and development messages, but even then the sudden spurt dur- ing
an election year is signifi- cant.
Besides, these figures exclude the amount the ministries spend in
advertising directly through agencies.
COP OPENS FIRE AFTER MOLEST CHARGE
FROM OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
Mumbai, Dec. 19:
A policeman shot dead eight people, including tribals, as he fired at
unarmed villagers protesting against the molestation of some women
vendors and the beating and detention of a local resident in a
Naxalite-infested district, an official source said today.
Constable Shripat Gaikwad opened fire without warning after more than
500 residents of Keshori village surrounded an anti-Naxalite outpost in
Gondia district, about 180 km from Nagpur, last night.
Negahe Marde Momin Se Badal Jate Hai Taqdeeren