Committed to building Ram temple in Ayodhya: BJP
Hyderabad, Oct 20: The BJP is committed to constructing a Ram temple in Ayodhya and would wait for the Supreme Court's verdict on the issue, the party spokesperson GVL Narasimha Rao said Saturday.
Speaking to reporters here, the BJP leader said though there was a demand for a section of leaders to bring an ordinance on the Temple, Rao said the party understands the sentiments of the people.
"As far as the issue of construction of the grand temple for Lord Ram is concerned, our party's position has been consistent. We have always favoured the construction of grand temple in Ayodhya. That is the aspiration and sentiment of crores of people, Hindus in this country," he said.
"We are waiting for the verdict of the honourable Supreme Court and we want the process for the Ram temple construction to begin thereafter.
We are committed to it but then we want this to happen either through the court verdict or through some kind of settlement among the communities, but that has not come forth.
So we will have to wait for the court verdict," Rao said.
RSS and VHP are asking the government and the BJP for an early settlement of the issue.
VHP Chief Mohan Bhagwat Thursday in Nagpur during his annual Vijayadashmi address said the government should clear the path for construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya through an appropriate and requisite law.
The BJP leader alleged that some of the Congress leaders have been trying to put roadblocks in the construction of the temple by trying to delay Supreme Court judgement by using their own "lawyer-politician" to create huddles in the court processes.
The Ayodhya case is currently before the Supreme Court and the next hearing is scheduled for October 29.
To a question on Rahul Gandhi's visit to Telangana for poll campaign, the BJP leader said the AICC president was a "negative factor" for the Congress party during elections.
"Mr Rahul Gandhi has been proved to be disaster as far as electoral politics is concerned," he said.
The Congress President would address two public meetings in Telangana today in the run-up to the December 7 assembly elections.
The Election Commission had on October 6 announced the election schedule for five states, including Telangana, which will go to the polls on December 7.
Quoting media reports that the Income Tax department found some discrepancies in the firms owned by Telugu Desam MP CM Ramesh and Congress leader Revanth Reddy, GVL said the findings of the taxmen was just a "tip of the iceberg" and those leaders owed an explanation to the people.
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US SC rejects 26/11 attack accused Tahawwur Rana’s plea seeking stay on his extradition to India
New York, Apr 7 (PTI): The US Supreme Court has rejected 26/11 Mumbai terror attack accused Tahawwur Rana's appeal seeking a stay on his extradition to India, moving him closer to being handed over to Indian authorities to face justice.
Rana, 64, a Canadian national of Pakistani origin, is currently lodged at a metropolitan detention centre in Los Angeles.
He is known to be associated with Pakistani-American terrorist David Coleman Headley, one of the main conspirators of the 26/11 attacks. Headley conducted a recce of Mumbai before the attacks by posing as an employee of Rana’s immigration consultancy.
Rana had submitted an ‘Emergency Application For Stay Pending Litigation of Petition For Writ of Habeas Corpus' on February 27, 2025, with Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States and Circuit Justice for the Ninth Circuit Elena Kagan.
Kagan had denied the application earlier last month.
Rana had then renewed his ‘Emergency Application for Stay Pending Litigation of Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus previously addressed to Justice Kagan’, and requested that the renewed application be directed to US Chief Justice John Roberts.
An order on the Supreme Court website noted that Rana's renewed application had been “distributed for Conference” on April 4 and the “application” has been “referred to the Court.”
A notice on the Supreme Court website Monday said that “Application denied by the Court.”
Rana was convicted in the US of one count of conspiracy to provide material support to the terrorist plot in Denmark and one count of providing material support to Pakistan-based terrorist organisation Lashker-e-Taiba which was responsible for the attacks in Mumbai.
New York-based Indian-American attorney Ravi Batra had told PTI that Rana had made his application to the Supreme Court to prevent extradition, which Justice Kagan denied on March 6. The application was then submitted before Roberts, “who has shared it with the Court to conference so as to harness the entire Court’s view.”
The Supreme Court justices are Associate Justice Clarence Thomas, Associate Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr., Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Associate Justice Elena Kagan, Associate Justice Neil M. Gorsuch, Associate Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh, Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett, and Associate Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson.
In his emergency application, Rana had sought a stay of his extradition and surrender to India pending litigation (including exhaustion of all appeals) on the merits of his February 13.
In that petition, Rana argued that his extradition to India violates US law and the UN Convention Against Torture "because there are substantial grounds for believing that, if extradited to India, the petitioner will be in danger of being subjected to torture."
"The likelihood of torture in this case is even higher though as petitioner faces acute risk as a Muslim of Pakistani origin charged in the Mumbai attacks,” the application said.
The application also said that his “severe medical conditions” render extradition to Indian detention facilities a “de facto" death sentence in this case.
The US Supreme Court denied Rana's petition for a writ of certiorari relating to his original habeas petition on January 21. The application notes that on that same day, newly-confirmed Secretary of State Marco Rubio had met with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar.
When Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Washington on February 12 to meet with Trump, Rana’s counsel received a letter from the Department of State, stating that “on February 11, 2025, the Secretary of State decided to authorise” Rana’s "surrender to India,” pursuant to the “Extradition Treaty between the United States and India”.
Rana’s Counsel requested from the State Department the complete administrative record on which Secretary Rubio based his decision to authorize Rana’s surrender to India.
The Counsel also requested immediate information of any commitment the United States has obtained from India with respect to Rana’s treatment. “The government declined to provide any information in response to these requests,” the application said.
It added that given Rana’s underlying health conditions and the State Department’s findings regarding the treatment of prisoners, it is very likely “Rana will not survive long enough to be tried in India".
During a joint press conference with Prime Minister Modi in the White House in February, President Donald Trump announced that his administration has approved the extradition of "very evil" Rana, wanted by Indian law enforcement agencies for his role in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, "to face justice in India”.
A total of 166 people, including six Americans, were killed in the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks in which 10 Pakistani terrorists laid a more than 60-hour siege, attacking and killing people at iconic and vital locations in Mumbai.
