Mayawati Slams Centre's Plea on Ram Temple Land, Calls It BJP's Attempt to Garner Votes

Lucknow: The Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati has lashed out at the Narendra Modi-led government over their Supreme Court petition for the return of the land surrounding the disputed site in Ayodhya.

The Centre on Tuesday moved the top court to return the ‘excess’ land around the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid site to the Ram Janmabhoomi Nyas.

The BSP supremo opposed the petition calling it an attempt to influence the upcoming 2019 Lok Sabha Elections.

“The attempt by the central government is provocative and uncalled for. This is a sheer political stunt by the BJP to garner votes ahead of 2019 Lok Sabha Elections. The government has failed to fulfil its promises and also have failed to work for the poor, backward and minorities hence they are now resorting to religion based politics just for political gains,” said the former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister in a statement that was issued on Wednesday.

The BSP Chief also warned people to be careful of what she called was a BJP tactic.

“The BJP is rattled by the SP-BSP alliance and now they also know that they are not going to return to power in the centre in 2019. That is why now they are resorting to uncalled government intervention in this case which exposes their narrow mentality,” added Mayawati.

In its application, the Centre had sought the modification of the Supreme Court's 2003 and 2011 orders by which a complete status quo was imposed on the entire 67.7 acre land that the government in 1993 had acquired.

Amid the growing pressure from the RSS, the central government told the Supreme Court that it was “duty bound” to return to Ram Janmabhoomi Nyas and other owners the land adjacent to the disputed site in Ayodhya.

“It is respectfully submitted that the acquisition took place in the year 1993 and 25 years have passed, the original landowners whose land, which were not in dispute but were still acquired, are entitled to get it back and the Central government is duty bound to restore/revert/hand over the same land,” the application stated.

The plea emphasized that only 0.313 area, upon which the Babri mosque stood, is the bone of contention and since the ownership of the "excess" and "superfluous" area is beyond any dispute, their land should be released from acquisition.