Despite a please-all verdict of the Allahabad High Court in the decades old Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid dispute, neither of the warring sides is willing to bend on the issue of actual ownership of land. They feel the land can’t belong to all contesting parties at the same time and its title must be decided if discord is to end.

Soon as the verdict came, giving one-third share in the 77-acre land in question to each of the major petitioners - the Ram Lalla Virajman, the Sunni Central Waqf Board and the Nirmohi Akhara - the first two said they would approach the Supreme Court.

Mahant Suresh Das of the Digambar Akhara, who is in the case on behalf of late petitioner Raja Paramhans Das, said if the land in question was Ram Janmabhoomi, no Muslim could logically hold its share. “We expect our Muslim brothers to concede the land to us for the making of a Ram temple. The temple we plan can’t come up at the disputed site alone. It is a grand plan for which we need a lot of area and that land, since it belongs to Ram Lalla, should be spared for him,” he said.

On the Muslim side also, both main petitioners, Mohd Farooq and Haji Mehboob, talked in an equally aggressive tone, claiming the land as theirs. Both had earlier said they would accept the HC order, whatever it was.

Now the Waqf Board is meeting tomorrow to decide the course of action, with Mehboob saying, “The high court has stayed action on the site for three months during which we can appeal. There is no question of compromising on the land’s title that belongs to us. Even the HC admits that, but it says since the Ram idol installed at the site, where a mosque once was, can’t be removed, the land be given to the Hindus.” Strangely, even the hard line Hindus are not completely satisfied. The Akhara Parishad, the body of all Hindu temple akharas, will soon meet and so will Ram Janmabhoomi Nyas Core Committee to chalk out a view. Head of the Nyas Nityagopal Das today said they were ready to talk to the Muslims, if the latter honoured their word.

“Until today, the Muslim petitioners were saying they would accept HC’s verdict. The HC admits that the disputed site is Ram Janmabhoomi. Now Muslims should also realise this and offer the land to us for a temple. Otherwise, we will go to the Supreme Court. The land belongs to Lord Rama and will vest in him,” he said.

Among influential local Hindus, only Satyendra Das, head priest of the makeshift Ram Lalla temple, hailed the verdict as “balanced and honourable”.

Even the Nirmohi Akhara said it would appeal if the Muslims accepted the verdict as it was. “If the Muslims contest further, we will be constrained to counter their claims,” said Mahant Bhaskar Das of the Nirmohi Akhara, whose claim over Ram Chabootra around the disputed site was today upheld by the HC.