August 2, 2003

Press Statement

 The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has issued the following statement:

Ayodhya Dispute : Court Verdict Only Solution

Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, has once again revealed his true colours of being an unadulterated RSS `swayamsewak'  by pledging in Ayodhya that a Ram temple will be built at "Ram janmasthan". He further went on to hope that "better sense will prevail over the opponents of the temple" and the obstacles for the construction of "a grand temple"  at Ayodhya will be removed.

Clearly, the Prime Minister has reneged from his  commitments to the Indian Parliament that the solution to the Ayodhya dispute will be determined by a court verdict or through a  negotiated settlement.  The impossibility of a negotiated settlement was  seen recently, given the intransigence of the RSS/BJP.  Under these circumstances, the CPI(M) had all along reiterated that any solution to the dispute can be based only on a judicial verdict. 

The Deputy Prime Minister, speaking on the same occasion, went ahead to state that the task of temple construction was  a national issue.  Echoing Mr. Vajpayee's opinion stated on the floor of the Lok Sabha a couple of years ago that the construction of the temple is the reflection of "the national sentiment", Mr. Advani has endorsed the RSS view that only the "Hindu sentiment" can be considered as "national sentiment".  

This is a complete  negation of both the letter and spirit of the Indian Constitution under whose  oath both the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister hold their office.

The Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) strongly denounces these statements.  The Polit Bureau appeals to the Indian people not to fall prey to the  obvious tactics of rousing communal passions around the Ayodhya issue by the RSS/BJP outfits in the run up to the forthcoming elections.  The Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) reiterates that the judicial verdict alone can be the basis for a solution to the Ayodhya dispute.