Canada NRIs hope verdict will lead to era of peace

TORONTO - Reservedly welcoming the decision of the Allahabad High Court on the Ayodhya issue, the non-resident Indian (NRI) community in Canada Thursday hoped it will usher in an era of peace in the country.

“As a person of Indian origin, I am very happy that there is no violence. This shows that the Indian people have matured since 1992,” said top Indo-Canadian political leader and former federal health minister Ujjal Dosanjh.

“The Indian people have realized that it doesn’t pay to fight among themselves. They have realized that in diversity they have to accommodate one another,” Dosanjh, who in February 2000 became the first non-white premier in Canada winning the top job in British Columbia province, told IANS.

A known lawyer himself, Dosanjh, said,” When the the Indian Supreme Court takes up the matter on appeals, I believe it may not do anything differently.”

Ajit Khanna, former president of the Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce, too was pleased with the court ruling.

“I think the verdict to divide the place among three parties is the only possible solution. I am happy all parties have handled the issue very well,” Khanna, a former top executive with Sears Canada, tol IANS.

He said, “I was impressed that though the three judges came up with different versions, their common verdict was to divide the place into three parts. The Indian people have shown that they are moving forward, and not harping on the past any more.”

However, Toronto-based travel operator Jamal Naser felt the judgment was political in nature.

“I won’t say it (the judgment) falls in the middle. It is more of a political decision, it is not based on facts. But I am happy peace is prevailing because all you need is a single spark by Muslim or Hindu extremists,” said Naser, an alumnus of Aligarh Muslim University.

He said though India has matured as a nation, the ranks of Hindu and Muslim extremists are also swelling. “People’s co-existence is important.

But politicians are exacerbating the trouble.”

Welcoming the verdict, Toronto physician Atul Tolia, however, said, “It is a political, pragmatic judgment - it is an old Solomon story. The judges have left lots of unsolved issues. They didn’t give a clear verdict. It is a tripartite judgment.

“I strongly feel that we needed a legal judgment. If the judges had been guided by the the historical context of the issue, the verdict would have been different.”

A Jain by faith, Tolia said, “I know everybody is going to appeal, but a compromise is the only way forward.”

(Gurmukh Singh can be contacted at gurmukh.s@ians.in)