Press Statement
The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has issued the following statement:
Ayodhya : Excavation Order Unwarranted
The Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court has ordered excavation of the site where the Babri Masjid stood at Ayodhya to ascertain whether a temple had existed there. Such a step is unwarranted given the fact that the Bench is hearing the title deed suit regarding the ownership of the land. The archaeological excavation in an area, which has been inhabited for two thousand years, is not germane to the case being heard. It will not be possible for the Archaeological Survey of India to excavate and come to any conclusions relevant to the title deed suit. Neither will it be possible to ascertain whether there was originally a Ram temple in an area, which has seen hundreds of temples being constructed over the centuries.
The Lucknow Bench has already heard all the parties concerned and their arguments have been completed. It is incomprehensible why at this juncture an order to dig up the site without affecting the makeshift temple has been taken. Such a judicial step is also fraught with serious consequences in view of the fact that the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and the RSS maintain that there are thousands of mosques which were actually temples earlier and demand that they be restored. This order will only exacerbate the situation with the sites at Mathura and Varanasi being targetted with demands for excavation.
The Supreme Court in 1993 had provided the correct direction by rejecting the reference made by the Narasimha Rao government to go into specific question whether a temple existed at the site where the Babri Masjid stood. The Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) considers the right course would be for the High Court to give its verdict on the title deed suit without straying into matters which are outside the bounds of the judicial process.