Congress to oppose legislation
to resolve Ayodhya issue

The Congress has said it will oppose any legislation by Parliament to resolve the Ayodhya issue contending it was neither politically 'desirable' nor legally 'sustainable'.

"We have maintained and will continue to maintain that the Ayodhya dispute cannot be settled through legislation by Parliament. This is neither politically desirable nor legally sustainable," party spokesman S Jaipal Reddy told reporters in Delhi on Monday night. 

Parliament makes laws for the economic well-being of the people and 'not on partisan religious disputes'. "Law cannot be made in the interest of any particular community," he said.

He defended the Congress stand in the Shah Bano case saying the conflict was within the community and not between two religious communities.

A solution to the dispute was possible only through the judiciary, Reddy said.

While the party was not opposed to talks on resolving the issue, he said, "We are of the view that it will be of little help."

Asked whether Congress had given any advice to Kanchi Shankaracharya Jayendra Saraswati on ways to resolve the Ayodhya tangle, he said, "We do not give advice to religious leaders. They are free to work as they like."

PTI