New Delhi, Oct 07: Flaying ASI report suggesting that a temple pre-existed the Babri Masjid, eminent historians today dubbed it as "partisan" and "motivated" and said that Allahabad High Court's decision allowing excavation at the disputed site was immensely unfortunate. "The decision of the Allahabad High Court to allow excavations at Ayodhya is immensely unfortunate,” former chairman of the Indian Council of Historical Research Irfan Habib said speaking at a function marking the launch of the book "The Babri Masjid question, 1528-2003: a matter of national honour" edited by Supreme Court advocate A G Noorani.

On the ASI report, he said it was "partisan and motivated writing and brought no credit to the ASI".
The issue had essentially become a dispute between the "restrictive, divisive and destructive" vision of India as opposed to the national view which arose from the freedom struggle, he said.

Another historian Prof Suraj Bhan said the Ayodhya issue was much bigger than an "archaeological problem" and the larger issue at hand was the question whether "our democracy will survive".
Terming the ASI report as "illogical", Bhan questioned VHP's claim to the site, saying the outfit did not represent Hindus.

Bureau Report