Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut on Thursday said activists did not consider the Supreme Court’s verdict on the Babri Masjid controversy relevant to their demand for a Ram Temple in Ayodhya. “We did not protest for a Ram Mandir with the court’s permission,” the saffron party leader told ANI.

Responding to Raut’s remarks, Bharatiya Janata Party National General Secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya said, “The BJP believes in the judiciary of India and will never support such statements.”

The Babri Masjid demolition

On December 6, 1992, lakhs of karsevaks gathered at the site had demolished the mosque. The incident had triggered communal riots across the country.

The karsevaks had claimed that the land on which the mosque stood was the birthplace of Hindu god Ram. In May 2017, a CBI court had framed conspiracy charges against senior BJP leaders, including LK Advani, Uma Bharti and Murli Manohar Joshi, in the case.

A joint trial:

There are two cases in connection with the Babri mosque demolition – one in Lucknow and the other in Raebareli. The Raebareli court had been hearing the case against leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, while the other case against karsevaks has been pending in the Lucknow trial court.

On May 30, the Suprme Court had restored conspiracy charges against BJP leaders LK Advani, MM Joshi and Uma Bharti. They will now face a joint trial with the karsevaks accused of demolishing the masjid in 1992, as the Supreme Court has clubbed the two. The matter has been transferred from the Raebareli court to the Lucknow court. The judges have called for the trial to be completed in two years.