Ayodhya verdict nudges us to look back at how much we have lost over years of conflict

The greatest opportunity that the judgment offers is a reaffirmation of India as a secular society. It is a decision that refutes the idea of Hindu Rashtra and amplifies the practical handling of sensitive religious concerns in a secular system.

Despite the predictable 1,045 pages (a modest size compared to recent trends), the judgment makes easy reading and should not be difficult to read and understand for legal experts as well as ordinary people.

Several decades of simmering disquiet and subdued anxiety have finally ended with the Ayodhya verdict of the Constitutional Bench of the Supreme Court. In a sense it is fortunate that the Court has delivered a unanimous judgment of five judges. All sides and political parties that had either exploited public sentiment or indeed suffered politically had categorically committed to accepting the outcome. Initial reactions suggest that the decision has been received widely with a sense of relief that the fire of passion, real or contrived, has finally been doused, even if some people feel a bit disappointed and legally-trained professionals will continue to dissect the findings for their impact as precedents for future decisions.