CJP and prominent Indians intervene in Ayodhya DisputeOur partner organisation Citizens for Justice and Peace, a human rights and legal resources platform dedicated to fighting communalism and discrimination, is now intervening in the Ram Janm Bhoomi – Babri Masjid case in the Supreme Court.
Joining CJP are a galaxy of prominent Indians from various walks of life. These include, Shyam Benegal, Aparna Sen, Om Thanvi, RB Sreekumar, Anand Patwardhan (Ram Ke Naam), Ganesh Devy, Medha Patkar, Aruna Roy, Anil Dharker, Ganesh Devy, Teesta Setalvad, Joy Sengupta, Cyrus Guzder, Ram Rahman, Sohail Hashmi, MK Raina, Dr. BT Lalitha Naik, John Dayal, Suman Mukhopadhyay, Kiran Nagarkar, Kumar Ketkar, Kalpana Kannabiran, KL Ashok, KP Sripala, AK Subbaiah, Suresh Bhatt Bakrabail, Prof G Haragopal, N. Babaiah, Tanaz Dara Mody, Muniza Khan, Tanveer Jafri and Dolphy D’souza.
Their plea is that the Supreme Court exercise its jurisdiction, not treat this matter like a narrow property dispute and instead recognise the ramifications of letting religion dictate the fate of a piece of land. CJP implores the court to take cognisance of the meaning of the word Ayodhya, a compound word formed by adding together ‘a’ meaning ‘without’ and ‘yudh’ meaning ‘war’. Ayodhya, a space that should exist for all, without conflict, has come to symbolise a vicious and bigoted conflict between communities.
CJP filed its intervention application to the civil suit on Dec 1 and is likely to present its stand when hearing begins on Dec 5 at the Supreme Court. Meanwhile, it has uploaded an online petition on its website, seeking ordinary Indians sign up in support of Peace in Ayodhya. Citizens can read and sign the petition at cjp.org.in/peace-in-ayodhya/