Ordinance on Ram Mandir only after Supreme Court pronounces verdict: PM Modi

In an interview to news agency ANI, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said bringing in an ordinance on the Ram Mandir issue will be considered only after the Supreme Court has pronounced a decision on the matter.

PM Modi was asked as to why an ordinance cannot be brought for the Ram Mandir issue in the same fashion as one was brought for the Triple Talaq Bill. To this, he said, "The triple talaq ordinance was brought after the Supreme Court verdict, in the light of the Supreme Court verdict..."

"We have said in our BJP manifesto that a solution will be found to this issue under the ambit of the Constitution," Modi told ANI.

The incumbent prime minister also blamed the Congress for slowing down the process of finding a solution to the issue which is subjudice before the Supreme Court.

He told the news agency, "Nobody can deny that those sitting in the governments in the last 70 years have tried their best to stall a solution to this [Ayodhya – Ram Mandir/Babri Masjid] issue."

He even attacked the Congress for creating obstacles in the top court, saying, "I beseech the Congress, for the sake of national peace and amity, they should stop their lawyers from stalling this issue in the court."

Modi's jibe was a reference to Congress veteran Kapil Sibal, who is representing the various Muslim bodies in the top court in his personal capacity as an advocate.

In December 2017, Sibal had appealed to the top court to defer the hearing on the matter until after May 2019, which is when the Lok Sabha elections will be held.  He had argued that there are "serious repercussions" outside court every time the Ayodhya matter is heard. The three-judge bench of the Supreme Court denied the request.

The Sangh Parivar has lately been vocal about its displeasure with the ruling BJP at the Centre for not doing enough to expedite bringing in a law on the Ram Mandir issue.

Estranged ally Shiv Sena and its supremo Uddhav Thackeray has openly criticised the BJP government for relegating the matter as merely an emotive issue for the saffron party.