india

Updated: Nov 09, 2019 23:08 IST

Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant has welcomed the Supreme Court’s unanimous verdict on the Ayodhya land dispute and thanked the state for maintaining peace and by and large accepting the verdict.

“A historic judgement by the Honourable Supreme Court on #Ayodhya. We should all accept the unanimous SC decision on Shri Ram Janmabhoomi and collectively work towards strengthening brotherhood amongst communities,” Sawant tweeted on Saturday.

Later addressing the media, Sawant said that he was glad that the state administration did not have to act under the preventive provisions that were applied to the state since Friday.

“We should all respect the verdict of the Supreme Court and I think in Goa, people across political lines, caste and creed have accepted the verdict. Even though we have applied Section 144 in Goa, we were confident that there would be no untoward incidents,” Sawant said.

“Despite it being a Saturday, I was monitoring the situation and coordinating from my office with the Director General of Police, the collectors and other officers. But, there was no report of any incident from anywhere. I thank the people of Goa and have welcomed the verdict. We have lived in Goa without any differences between Hindus, Muslims and Christians and will do so in future too,” Sawant said.

Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure was applied in Goa with effect from November 7 and banned the gathering of more than five persons, processions without permission or lighting of fireworks and other restrictive provisions.

The provisions were later watered down to exempt religious, sporting and government events after concerns were raised about the effect it would have on planned events and functions including religious services.

The Congress too has welcomed the judgement.

“Hindus can now build a temple at the site of the disputed land under the auspices of a Trust and Muslims may build a mosque in a five acre plot nearby. This is a win-win situation for all,” Ramakant Khalap, former Union Law Minister said.

“The historic judgement will hopefully usher in an era of peace, tranquility and brotherhood. I appeal to people in both camps to bury the hatchet forever and work together to raise the temple and mosque as symbols of unity of Indians and springboards for a resurgent India,” he added.