Flashback: Ayodhya verdict 2019 : As reported in Indian newspapers and also by foreign media

'The Hindu' newspaper known for its anti-BJP and extra ordinary love for Sickularism and pro-Left narratives ran, 'Temple at disputed site, mosque within Ayodhya, rules SC', as its headline. 

Quoting few lines from the addendum written by one of the five judges, the paper also said, 

"Faith and belief of Hindus since prior to construction of mosque and subsequent thereto has always been that Janmasthan of Lord Ram is the place where Babri Mosque has been constructed which faith and belief is proved by the documentary and oral evidence."

'Deccan Chronicle' said, 'RAM LALLA COMES HOME, A NEW MASJID TO RISE', with a group picture of the five-judge Constituional bench. 

"SC calls Babri's demolition a crime, but says Hindus' claim on land is stronger," the Deccan Chronicle article read.  

Kolkata-based 'The Telegraph', said, 'IN THE NAME OF RAM, THE SITE IS NOW A HINDU STHAN' as its headline. 

"The Supreme Court has unanimously awarded the disputed site in Ayodhya to Ram Lalla Virajman (baby Ram) and empowered the Centre to build a temple there but ruled that the demolition of the Babri Masjid was an 'egregious violation' of the 'rule of law' and a wrong [that] must be remedied". 

'The Indian Express' said, -- 'Temple gets site, mosque a plot', and ran 'CONSTITUTION BENCH DIRECTS CENTRE TO FORMULATE A SCHEME WITHIN 3 MONTHS FOR TEMPLE', as its kicker. 

Writing about the Congress party's support to the historic Supreme Court verdict, The Indian Express said in its report, "For, it was the Rajiv Gandhi government which allowed the opening of the locks of the Babri Masjid in the 1986 and permitted Shilanyas there three years later".

'The Times of India' said, 'RAM MANDIR WITHIN SITE', in its article on the landmark Supreme Court verdict. "SC settles, by unanimous verdict, Centuries-old Hindu-Muslim conflict by granting entire 2.77-acre disputed land to deity Ram Lalla, one of the 3 claimants in the case; Directs Centre to appoint trust in 2 months to manage construction of temple". 

'Hindustan Times' ran the headline, 'TEMPLE SET IN STONE'. "FOR RAM LALLA Right of child deity upheld, paving the way for a Ram temple at disputed site".  

 A cow stands in front of a security barricade in a street in Ayodhya, India, November 9, 2019. REUTERS snap 

How international media covered the most anticipated judgment

Pakistani newspaper 'Dawn' said, - “The verdict is a huge victory for Hindu nationalists under Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who had promised to build the temple in 2014 elections that brought him to power".

It also noted that a review petition by the Sunni Waqf Board might lead to another protracted legal battle.

'The Guardian', London, had reactions to the verdict from the Hindu Mahasabha, the Sunni Waqf Board, and a tailor who used grow flowers on the temple land. 

It also noted how rebuilding the Ram temple got a renewed push from the BJP after coming to power in 2014.

"Ayodhya: India's top court gives Hindus site claimed by Muslims ....Supreme court says site where mosque was torn down in 1992 should become Hindu temple" - 'The Guardian'  

'The Washington Post' called it “a major victory” for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was re-elected to power in a landslide victory in May (2019. 

“The building of a temple to the Hindu god Ram is a long-held objective of India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party,” the paper said. 

CNN News gave a summary of the judgment. “Exhaustive and complicated, the case became an archaeological dispute as well as a religious and political one. The Archaeological Survey of India has submitted reports of digs in a quest to establish the veracity of the claim that the land was the birthplace of Lord Ram,” it reported.  

BBC said: “Saturday’s unanimous judgement by the five most senior judges of the court will hopefully lead to some reconciliation that the country badly needs.”

The Guardian had reported: 

"The five supreme court judges based their unanimous and historic judgment on Hindus’ claim that the site is the birthplace of the god Ram.

They ruled that a mosque that had stood on the site since the 16th century, and was the basis of the Muslim claim to Ayodhya, was “not built on vacant land” and that the Hindu belief could not be disputed."  

"The ruling, just six months after his landslide election win, is another huge victory for India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, and his Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) government, which have made the restoration of the Ram temple at Ayodhya a focal point of their Hindu nationalist agenda. The supreme court judges said plans for the temple would be drawn up within the next three months.

“It is a historic judgment,” said Varun Kumar Sinha, a lawyer for Hindu Mahasabha, a rightwing party that advocated for the rebuilding of the Ram temple at Ayodhya. “With this judgment, the supreme court has given the message of unity in diversity.” The head of the Hindu nationalist RSS organisation, Mohan Bhagwat, echoed Sinha’s comments and said his group welcomed the decision. “This case was going on for decades and it reached the right conclusion,” he said. “This should not be seen as a win or a loss.”

Zafaryab Jilani, the lawyer for the Muslim claimants, the Sunni Waqf Board, challenged the decision and said the board would meet later to decide whether to file an appeal. “We respect the supreme court, we respect the judgment, but we are not satisfied with this,” he said. “There are a lot of contradictions within the judgment. Five acres has no value.” (The Guardian) 

Since Modi and the BJP took power in 2014, the rebuilding of a Ram temple at Ayodhya has been at the forefront of their Hindutva agenda, which has pushed India away from its secular roots and toward a strongly Hindu identity.

This has led to growing hostility and violence toward the country’s Muslims, who number 200 million. Muslim history has been removed from school textbooks and there has been an increase in reports of vigilante Hindu mobs murdering Muslims suspected of killing cows, which are sacred in Hinduism.

(The Guardian)  

Dec 2018 -- Eleven months before the Nov 9, 2019 historic verdict !!  

"Dozens of Hindu monks and tens of thousands of followers have urged the Indian government to help build a temple on the ruins of a 16th-century mosque. Causing a frenzy in a crowd of more than 200,000 people, Hindu seers made a series of fiery speeches laced with religious overtones on Sunday to demand action paving the way for a temple in the northern town of Ayodhya.

A Hindu mob tore down the centuries-old mosque in Ayodhya in 1992, triggering riots that killed about 2,000 people across India in one of the worst outbreaks of communal violence since partition in 1947.

After the demolition of the mosque, both Hindu and Muslim groups petitioned the supreme court to help resolve the issue. The top court has sought more time to give its verdict." (The Guardian)