Ayodhya Verdict: Want My Masjid Back, Says AIMIM Chief Asaduddin Owaisi

Reacting to Supreme Court's verdict on Ayodhya land dispute, All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Friday said he 'wants his masjid back'. Owaisi took to Twitter and expressed his wish.

In an interview to Outlook magazine, Asaduddin Owaisi said he will oppose anything that is against India's Constitution and pluralism. "For me, the Constitution is supreme and it gives me the right to disagree respectfully with any SC judgment. I will oppose anything that is against the Constitution," he said.

Asaduddin Owaisi said, "Our fight was not for a piece of land. It was to ensure that my legal rights are realised. The SC also ­categorically said that no temple was ­demolished to construct a mosque. I want my masjid back."

Earlier, AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi said his party is not in favour of the five acres of land to be allocated for building a mosque under the Supreme Court verdict in the Ayodhya issue as the fight was for a legal right and Babri Masjid.

“...I speak for my party,we do not want this ‘khairat’ (donation or charity). Our fight was for a legal right, for a Babri Masjid. Our fight was not for, to get this piece of land...,” he told reporters here.

He was asked about the comments of some Muslim leaders that the five acre land allotted should be given within the 67 acres acquired by the government.

The whole struggle for so many years was not for a piece of land, he said.

“...why did we have this patience so much. We went to the court, if it was a piece of land we could have accepted it somewhere else. But, from last 50 years, we have been fighting this case in a court of law with all the patience,” he said.

The RSS raised a bogey that a temple was demolished, but Supreme Court ruled otherwise, he claimed.

He reiterated his claim that the country is going on the path of “Hindu Rashtra”.

“... how attempts are being made to make Muslims in Imdia as second class citizens. Keep watching. Political disempowerment is happening.

Nobody can deny this..bring NRC, citizen amendment bill, what message you are giving. My regret is that all the secular parties, their mouths are shut,” he said.

He asked why the Congress, NCP, BSP and others are silent and that the silence needs to be broken.

On Saturday when the apex court announced its judgment in the Ayodhya issue, Owaisi had said he personally felt that the offer of the five acre plot to the Muslim side should be rejected.

Owaisi reaffirmed that his party, which has two MLAs in Maharashtra, would not support the government led by the BJP or Shiv Sena.

Asked for his party’s stance in a scenario of a NCP leader becoming Chief Minister, he said, “let marriage happen first.”