Ayodhya verdict: Stand of archaeologists vindicated, says KK Muhammed

Senior archaeologist KK Muhammed, who was part of the team of archaeologists which had carried out the first excavation at the disputed Ayodhya site in 1976-77, has welcomed the Supreme Court judgment.
Muhammed, who retired as the regional director, North, of Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), has said this is the “most balanced and perfect judgment” one can think of under the existing circumstances.
Talking to TOI, he said, “It is a practical judgment that nobody can further improve upon. Especially because the whole problem that was troubling the whole country for the last many decades has now been hopefully solved by this judgment.”
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Muhammed said the second best part of the judgment was that all the archaeological evidence presented by the ASI have been taken as strong evidence by the Supreme Court for the presence of a pre-existing temple.
He said the ownership rights of the Sunni Waqf Board over the property have been recognised. “However, as a practical solution, they have been given 5 acres of land in a separate place,” he said.
(The team of archaeologists led by former ASI DG BB Lal (seated fourth from left on chair in the first row) which had carried out excavation at Ayodhya in 1976-77. KK Muhammed is seen sitting in the middle on the ground. Photo courtesy: KK Muhammed)
Muhammed further said, “The flaw of the earlier judgment was that they [Muslims] were given a part of the land in the existing disputed land itself which would have created further problems. That anomaly has now been corrected.”
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He said the two excavations conducted by the ASI stand vindicated. The first excavation was carried out by a team led by former ASI DG BB Lal in 1976-77 and the second one by a team led by BR Mani in 2003.
Muhammed was a part of Lal’s team and has always maintained that a grand temple existed before the Babri mosque at Ayodhya.

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He said the Muslims had a historic opportunity to turn a new phase of life by voluntarily relinquishing their right in favour of building a Ram temple. “This is what I had been demanding right from the very beginning. But sadly that opportunity has now been lost,” he said.
However, Muhammed said all was not lost. “There is still ample time for the Muslim community to heartily accept the judgment and voluntarily relinquish the 5 acres of land in favour of the temple,” he said.
But at the same time, Muhammed said, the Hindu community should come out to provide an alternative land for them either in Faizabad or Lucknow instead of in Ayodhya.