Yogi Adityanath to News18: 'Day-to-day SC hearings in Ayodhya case have given BJP hope of favourable verdict'

Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Wednesday said that the BJP is hopeful of a favourable verdict in the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid land dispute case and called it unfortunate that mediation couldn't take place between the parties in the case.

He made the remarks during an exclusive interview with Network18 group editor-in-chief Rahul Joshi. The interview came on a day when the Supreme Court set 18 October as the deadline for the conclusion of arguments by the Hindu and Muslim sides in the land dispute case.

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"The judgment will be based on historical facts and evidence before the court. We are hopeful of a favourable verdict. I am confident the BJP will implement the Supreme Court order. We have always respected and executed court orders," Adityanath said during the interview.

The Uttar Pradesh chief minister also appeared to support the option of mediation for resolution of the dispute but asserted that holding talks wouldn't have worked out.

Accusing the Muslim side in the case of thwarting the mediation talks, Adityanath said that it "would have been better if the Muslim side had changed stand and agreed to a mediated solution".

"It's unfortunate the mediation couldn't take place. But it wouldn't have worked as there was no common goal between the warring parties. When the disputing parties are adamant and refuse to work together, the Supreme Court has to intervene," he said,

File image of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. PTI

He also said that the day-to-day hearings had given hope to the BJP and its supporters. "I believe that the Supreme Court should take such a decision that will end the dispute once and for all," he said.

The setting of a deadline for the completion of arguments has raised the possibility of a verdict in the middle of November in the politically-sensitive case as Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, who is heading the five-judge Constitution bench hearing the case, is due to demit office on 17 November.

The apex court on Wednesday also that said that the parties to the dispute can amicably resolve the matter through mediation if they want to but told lawyers from both the sides that it wanted to conclude the day-to-day hearings by 18 October so that the judges get almost four weeks time to write the judgment.

The top court had asked the counsels for the Hindu and Muslim parties to inform it about a tentative "time schedule" for concluding their arguments.

The apex court had commenced the day-to-day hearings of the case on 6 August after mediation proceedings initiated to find the amicable resolution had failed.

The court had taken note of the report of the three-member panel, also comprising spiritual guru and founder of the Art of Living foundation Sri Sri Ravishankar and senior advocate and renowned mediator Sriram Panchu, that mediation proceedings, which went on for about four months, did not result in any final settlement and it had to decide the matter pending before it.

The court, which on 8 March referred the matter for mediation, had asked for in-camera proceedings to be completed within eight weeks, but later granted time till 15 August after the panel's earlier report said that the mediators were "optimistic" about an amicable solution.

The top court had fixed the seat for mediation process in Faizabad, Uttar Pradesh, around seven kilometres from Ayodhya, and said adequate arrangements, including the venue of the mediation, place of stay of the mediators, their security, travel should be forthwith arranged by the state government.

It had perused a report about the progress of mediation process till 18 July and said its contents will remain confidential.

Fourteen appeals have been filed in the apex court against the 2010 Allahabad High Court judgment, delivered in four civil suits, that the 2.77-acre land in Ayodhya be partitioned equally among the three parties — the Sunni Waqf Board, the Nirmohi Akhara and Ram Lalla.

On 6 December, 1992, the Babri Masjid, constructed at the disputed site in the 16th Century by Shia Muslim Mir Baqi, was demolished, sparking communal riots in the country.

With inputs from PTI