Ayodhya verdict: RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat leaves for Delhi, appeals for peace

New Delhi: RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat on Saturday appealed for peace and calm ahead of the pronouncement of the verdict in the decades-old Ayodhya Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid title dispute case by Supreme Court. The landmark judgement is likely to be delivered around 10.30 am.

The RSS chief also left for Delhi where he is due to hold deliberations with top BJP leaders, including Union Home Minister and BJP chief Amit Shah and party working president JP Nadda.

Amit Shah has convened an urgent meeting on Saturday on the issue. Shah is expected to reach BJP headquarters by 10 am. Both Amit Shah and the RSS chief are likely to hold a press conference later in the day to spell out the party strategy.

Sources said that RSS Sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat will address the nation through media today at 1 pm at Keshav Kunj Parisar, Jhandewalan in Delhi after Supreme Court delivers its judgment on Ramjanamsthan temple issue.

The Supreme Court will pronounce its historic judgement in the decades-old Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid land dispute case today. The landmark verdict will be delivered at 10:30 am.

The top court will deliver its verdict on a batch of petitions challenging September 30, 2010, Allahabad High Court order, which trifurcated the 2.77 acres disputed land between the Nirmohi Akhara, the Uttar Pradesh Sunni Central Waqf Board, and Ramlalla Virajman.

The case was heard by a five-judge Constitution Bench comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, Justices S A Bobde, D Y Chandrachud, Ashok Bhushan, and S Abdul Nazeer for a marathon 40 days on a day-to-day basis and reserved its order on October 16.

Hearing in the case commenced on August 6 after the court-appointed mediation panel, comprising of spiritual leader Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and Justice (retired) FMI Kalifullah and senior advocate and renowned mediator Sriram Panchu failed to arrive at an out-of-court settlement in the case.

The 40-day long proceedings turned out to be the second-longest hearing in the history of the Supreme Court, after the historic Kesavananda Bharati case which went on for 68 days.

On Friday, Justice Gogoi held an hour-long meeting with UP Chief Secretary Rajendra Kumar Tiwari and Director General of Police Om Prakash Singh who apprised him about the security arrangements made to maintain law and order in the state.

Multi-layered security arrangements have been put in place in Ayodhya, which has been turned into a fortress with the deployment of 60 companies (90-125 personnel each) of the PAC and paramilitary forces. Drones and CCTV cameras will also be used to monitor the situation ahead of the verdict.