With securitymen pouring into town ahead of the Allahabad High Court verdict on the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid title suits, nervousness is overtaking the calm in Ayodhya. Only one man in town betrays no such emotion.
Weary of answering questions on which way he thinks the verdict will go, 90-year-old Hashim Ansari, the lone surviving petitioner in the title suits over the disputed site, has been catching up on sleep whenever he can in his 5?x10? room in Punji Tola. He says he will not go to Lucknow on Friday for the verdict. ?I won?t be able to do all that walking in court. I will wait in this room for the verdict.?
The Lucknow Bench, he said, must give its ruling this Friday. ?This matter has gone on for 60 years. All other petitioners are dead. It should end in Lucknow. If you allow this to drag on, politicians will again get into the act, stoke passions on either side. Whatever the decision, it has to be accepted,? says Ansari.
?I appeal to Muslims to react with joy or grief behind closed doors. If the verdict is not in our favour, there is a legal way out. There is no need to protest or celebrate on the streets. Some are already talking of moving courts but I would like to hear the verdict first.? Ansari says a favourable verdict would not mean he would demand immediate reconstruction of the Babri Masjid. ?Look at the situation in the country. I don?t want more fires to rage. I will be satisfied with a verdict which accepts our claim to the title. There should be no demand for immediate rebuilding of the Masjid.?
He is confident nothing untoward will happen this time in Ayodhya. ?The Muslims and Hindus of Ayodhya live like brothers. It is only the outsiders who cause trouble here. They have turned this into a siyasi akhada (political fight). End this issue here. Otherwise you will never be able to douse the flames.?
Ansari?s appeal for calm on Friday was echoed by Uttar Pradesh Congress chief Rita Bahuguna Joshi who dropped in at Ayodhya to meet Mahant Phalahari of the Raj Gopal Mandir and Muslim leader Haji Mehboob, both advocates of a middle path out of the mess.
Joshi said Congress president Sonia Gandhi had instructed party office-bearers to remain in their respective areas, ensure peace after the verdict. ?We have been told to make social contact, appeal for restraint and calm. I have already been to Allahabad and Varanasi and I have now come to Faizabad and Ayodhya.?
Asked whether her party favoured a compromise solution, Joshi said: ?That cannot be an issue at this stage. It has to be the judicial process? whatever the verdict, it must be respected. The dissatisfied can look at legal options. This is not the end of the legal process.?