All-India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) has decided to oppose the Centre’s petition on transferring 67 acres of undisputed land around the disputed site at Ayodhya to Ram Janmabhoomi Trust.

“The court has put a blanket ban on any construction near the disputed site. Seeking permission for releasing the 67-acre acquired land is against the court’s ruling. The AIMPLB will oppose the petition and will not allow the Centre to go against the court’s ruling,” said AIMPLB member and lawyer in Ayodhya case, Zafaryab Jilani, in Lucknow on Tuesday. 

AIMPLB member and Imam of Aishbagh Eidgah, Maulana Khalid Rashid Firangi Mahali, also opposed the move saying, “It appears to be politically motivated and taken ahead of the crucial Lok Sabha elections by the National Democratic Alliance government.”

Muslim clerics also questioned the Centre’s intention months ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.

They claimed that the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Union government was not at all serious about solving the Ayodhya dispute, and instead it was entangling the issue further with such petitions.

In its application, the Centre, while seeking apex court’s permission to return the undisputed 67-acre acquired land to the original owners, has also sought modification of Supreme Court orders of 2003 and 2011 by which a complete status quo was imposed on the land acquired by then PV Narasimha Rao government in 1993.

The government has submitted that 42 acres of acquired land belongs to Ram Janmabhoomi Nyas and they are entitled to get it back.

Sunni cleric Maulana Sufiyan Nizami said, “The land for which the Central government has filed a writ is already covered by an apex court judgement that no worship or prayer can be done on it.”

“Now the Central government is trying to entangle the issue by a new dispute which shows that it is not at all serious at solving the dispute. Whenever the matter is on the edge of getting resolved, the government is derailing the issue. Also, the government belongs to everyone. However, when the government starts becoming partisan, democratic values are endangered. The Supreme Court should take cognisance of the issue,” he said.

Echoing similar sentiments, Shia cleric Maulana Saif Abbas said, “I think, till the entire issue is resolved, any kind of construction will not be in the interest of anyone. The Supreme Court should not entertain the petition filed by the Centre. The move of the Narendra Modi government has proved that it intends to go to the polls over the temple issue rather than its commitment of ‘sabka saath sabka vikas.

UP Shia Central Waqf Board chairman Waseem Rizvi, however, welcomed the decision of the NDA government and appealed to Muslims to support the move.