Mecca holy site for Muslims, not Ayodhya: Uma Bharti
New Delhi: Declaring Ayodhya a “historic” place for the Hindus, Union Minister Uma Bharti on Thursday claimed that the disputed area cannot be a religious place for Muslims as they consider Mecca to be their holy land.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the Supreme Court order that hearing for the Ayodhya title suit will begin from October 29, the BJP MP from Madhya Pradesh claimed that the dispute over the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid area was never “religious” in nature but was turned into one.
“This isn’t a matter of religious dispute, as Ayodhya is an important religious place for the Hindus because it is the birthplace of Lord Ram. For Muslims, it isn’t a religious place; for them, it is Mecca just like it is the Vatican City for the Christians. This matter was created (turned into a religious one) and later, it finally got transformed into a land dispute,” she said.
The minister also suggested settling the dispute over the piece of land outside court. “These days, every issue is dragged to the court. This case can be settled out of the court,” she said.
Welcoming the court order to begin the case hearing from next month, she said, “It is an important day for me and I welcome the Supreme Court decision on Ayodhya. I hope for a verdict soon.”
Bharti, besides veteran BJP leaders MM Joshi and LK Advani, are facing criminal conspiracy charges in the Babri Masjid demolition.
Courtesy: indianexpress.com
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Karnataka Legislative Council Chairman expresses displeasure over absent ministers
Bengaluru (PTI): Karnataka Legislative Council Chairman Basavaraj Horatti on Tuesday briefly adjourned the House, expressing displeasure over the absence of Ministers and ruling party members post lunch break.
The development comes a day after Assembly Speaker U T Khader adjourned the House and walked out in protest, over the lack of written replies from government departments to questions raised by MLAs.
The "unprecedented" move by the Speaker had caused huge embarrassment to the Congress government, forcing the Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to issue directives to Ministers and bureaucrats, including suspending errant officials.
When the council resumed after lunch, Leader of Opposition Chalavadi Narayanaswamy pointed toward the empty treasury benches and suggested that ruling party members seemed to have "boycotted" the proceedings.
Only Minister of School Education and Literacy Madhu Bangarappa and Chief Whip Saleem Ahmed were in attendance.
The Chairman asked, "Ministers are not here; what should I do?"
Raising objection to empty treasury benches, Opposition Chief Whip N Ravikumar said, "If we have to speak on any issues, who should we tell? Who is there among Ministers? Where is the government?"
Following this, Horatti adjourned the House for 10 minutes.
When the House resumed, a couple of Ministers -- Ramalinga Reddy, Santosh Lad arrived, but the treasury benches by and large remained sparse as most of the ruling Congress MLCs were absent.
The Chairman asked the Chief Whip Saleem Ahmed, "If there are no members and Ministers on the treasury bench side, what is it? How should the House be run? If you don't want, I will adjourn the House for tomorrow. What other work is there during the session? If there are no members and the seats are empty, how can the House run?"
When Horatti asked the Chief Whip about the MLCs, Ahmed replied, "They will be coming."
Pointing out that MLCs were not present, despite the House resuming late post lunch, the Chairman said, "What should we do? Shall I adjourn the House for tomorrow? What do you mean that they will be coming? I don't like it."
Ravikumar attacked the ruling Congress, asking, "Before whom should we raise the issues?"
When the Chairman expressed his willingness to adjourn the House till Wednesday morning, Ravikumar said the opposition BJP was ready to participate in the proceedings, provided the treasury benches show equal cooperation.
Defending the ruling party members, Congress MLC Ramesh Babu said there was some delay in the return of his party colleagues, who had gone for lunch.
As a couple of Ministers and ruling party MLCs started trickling in, the Chairman called BJP MLC A H Vishwanth to speak on the Budget.
