oppn parties Ayodhya Verdict: Test By Fire For India

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  • The Supreme Court issued notices to the Election Commission of India, Delhi Police and opposition leaders, including Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav, in separate petitions concerning electoral-roll revision and protests held in Delhi on October 10–12. The court also directed the preservation of CCTV footage linked to allegations of police excesses
  • The Supreme Court ruled that a person converting from Hinduism to Islam cannot automatically claim backward-class reservation benefits in the new religious community solely on the basis of their previous caste status. The judgment upheld the Madras High Court's decision striking down a 2024 Tamil Nadu government order that permitted such certification for specified communities
  • The Election Commission of India ordered a Special Summary Revision of electoral rolls in 14 states and three Union Territories, using January 1, 2027, as the qualifying date for voter eligibility. The draft rolls are scheduled for publication on November 12, claims and objections will be accepted until December 11, and the final rolls are due on January 4, 2027
Delhi HC refuses to ban CJP's Tiranga rally at Central Park in Connaught Place today /////// Police says will control and regulate it /////// NDMC closes the park for the public on Friday and Saturday
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Ayodhya Verdict: Test By Fire For India

By Sunil Garodia

About the Author

Sunil Garodia Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator. Author of Cyber Scams in India, Digital Arrest, The Money Trap and The Human Hack

The Supreme Court will deliver the verdict in the Ayodhya land dispute case, which has a direct bearing on the vexed Babri Masjid-Ram Janmabhoomi issue, any day this week. Although the court will obviously decide the matter on the basis of facts presented and arguments made before it, the verdict is likely to antagonize the community against which it goes. Both parties have said that they will respect the verdict, but that is easier said than done. For, there are hotheads in both communities who have for long adhered to the inflexible position that says for the Muslims that the Babri Masjid must be reconstructed at the same spot while for the Hindus that the Mandir must be made after razing the mosque completely and also at the same spot ("mandir wahin banayenge" has been their war cry).

Politicians, religious leaders, elders and social activists of both communities have already started the process to ensure that the social fabric is not shredded post the verdict. There have appeals by imams from mosques that the verdict must be respected at all costs. Muslims have been advised neither to protest if the verdict goes against them nor to celebrate if it is in their favour. The RSS has also said that it has no plans to celebrate if the verdict goes in favour of the Hindus. It has also canceled all its events for November as it might either be misinterpreted or provide an opportunity for the congregation to indulge in mischief.

As is correct, the BJP and the RSS have reached out to the Muslim community ahead of the verdict. In a meeting held at the home of the Union Minorities affairs minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Hindu and Muslim leaders pledged not to have any "junooni jashn" or "haar ka hungama" after the verdict. The meeting was attended by RSS leaders Krishna Gopal and Ramlal, BJP's Shanawaz Hussain, Jamait-Ulema-e-Hind general secretary Mahmood Madani, filmmaker Muzaffar Ali and prominent Shia cleric Maulana Syed Kalbe Jawad, among others. Jawad later said that the nation is above all and peace and harmony between the communities must be maintained at all costs. The government will also tighten security, in Ayodhya and all over the country, to prevent major flare-ups.

But one small spark is all that is needed to create an atmosphere of madness and barbarity. The way Indians behave after the verdict will show if they have matured enough not to allow their biases and religious intolerance to come in the way of the legal process. It will show whether Indians have become civil enough to respect the law and convince others to do the same. It will also prove if the elders and the main organizations of both communities have enough clout to rein in the hotheads. It is a testing time for the social, secular democracy that India is. Let us hope good sense prevails and peace and harmony are maintained.

 

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