Nuanced verdict brings closure: Prince of Arcot

The Prince of Arcot, Nawab Mohammed Abdul Ali, has welcomed the Supreme Court of India’s verdict on long-pending Babri Masjid-Ramjanambhoomi dispute.

Describing it as a nuanced judgement, the Prince said it has finally brought closure to what looked like an intractable dispute between the two major communities of India. He sincerely appealed to Muslim parties and the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) not to file a review petition against the Supreme Court’s verdict. He said that the Muslim bodies must honour their promise of abiding by the court’s ruling if it were to go against them, in all fairness to God and man, he said.

The Muslims must find solace in the fact that the Supreme Court did not agree with the contention that the Babri Masjid was built after demolishing a Hindu temple. He praised the Supreme Court for reiterating the fact that both the demolition of the Babri Masjid in 1992 and the surreptitious placing of idols in 1949 in the structure were illegal. Therefore, those responsible for the demolition must be brought to book.

The Prince also appealed to the people of India, irrespective of caste, creed or religion, especially the Hindus and Muslims to work together for the steady progress and development of the country, which can be achieved only by improving the socio-economic conditions of the masses, not by creating conflicts over places of worship.

India today is a diverse and pluralistic society: multi-ethnic, multi-linguistic, multi-religious and multi-cultural. That is its great strength. It must be preserved. We are part of humanity with all its rich diversity of religions, languages, cultures, traditions and experience and India forms a large microcosm of the contemporary world, he said.

Let us remember, communalism brings death, destruction and horror in an expanding way. Indian law specifically prohibits the practice of communalism, the promotion of disharmony, enmity and ill-will between different religious communities and exploitation of religion.

The Prince appealed to all fellow citizens and said in a statement that “India’s future is in your hands. Promote the spirit of tolerance and national integration. Let us not give any quarter to communalism and pseudo-nationalism. We must together resist all attempts to exploit religious sentiments for political purposes.”

He called upon the people to join hands and stand up for communal harmony, secularism, fraternity and human solidarity. Let us build a strong, united, democratic, just and prosperous India, he emphasised.