Mulayam disappointed with Ayodhya verdict

Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav on Friday expressed his disappointment over the verdict given by the special bench of the Allahabad high court in the Ayodhya case.

"The court appears to have somehow got guided by considerations of faith and belief instead of the rule of the law book," Mulayam told media persons in Lucknow.

"I have reason to believe that the court ignored or overlooked various legal issues and evidences that were brought on record and chose to rely more on the faith and belief of people, which is not what a court is expected to do," said the SP chief. 

Mulayam's party has, for several years, enjoyed substantial support of Muslims. In fact, he even earned the sobriquet of 'Maulana Mulayam'. However, of late, Mulayam has lost much of his Muslim support.

Apparently, the veteran politician sees the verdict as a means to rebuild his popularity among the minority community.

He went on to candidly state, "I am disappointed with the verdict; and let me tell you that what has been done is not a healthy sign for the country or its judiciary. I would not be surprised if this verdict actually creates more complications for the nation rather than solving its problems."

Hailing the decision of the Sunni Central Waqf Board to challenge the judgment before the Supreme Court, he said, "I am confident that the apex court will take a purely legal view on the whole issue and pass its judgment without being influenced by any extraneous considerations of faith and belief."

He said, "The verdict had hurt the sentiments of millions of Muslims of this country as they feel cheated because justice has been denied to them."

Mulayam claimed, "I have always been of the view that a nation cannot be run on the basis of faith; it is the Constitution and laws that govern a nation."

To buttress his point, he added,  "I had stated this before the National Integration Council way back in 1990 while I was chief minister of the state and the entire country was at the brink of a turmoil. It was there that I described my then position as akin to that of Arjun in Mahabharat because I knew that I might have to order firing on my own brethren in the larger interest of maintaining law and order of the state. And that is what I had to eventually do because I always held law above everything."