Section of Muslims adopting double standards on Ram temple, says Sri Sri
With All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) on Sunday asserting that 99 per cent of Muslims in the country want a review of the unanimous Supreme Court verdict on the Ayodhya dispute, Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi hit out for their decision to seek a review of the verdict and alleged that AIMPLB is trying to create an “atmosphere of division and confrontation” after the matter was laid to rest by the Supreme Court.
Spiritual leader Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, who was a Supreme Court-appointed mediation panel in the matter, said a section of Muslims are now adopting double standards on Ram temple issue. The AIMPLB, which was not a party to the law suit, has previously said a review petition will be filed by December 9. A five-judge bench had ruled on November 9 that a temple should be built through a trust set up by the Government on the disputed site, where the mosque was demolished in 1992.
The Sunni Central Waqf Board, one of the main litigants in the case, has decided to not file a review petition, but is yet to take a call on whether to accept a five-acre alternative plot for a mosque. “Muslims trust judiciary that is why a review petition is being filed.
However, the trust has weakened after the SC verdict on Ayodhya,” AIMPLB General Secretary Maulana Wali Rahmani told media.
Asked about the suggestion that the decades-long dispute should end after the SC judgment, Rahmani said, “They are those who did not have any interest in the mosque. They live in fear and want others to do so. Intellectuals raise this issue but they did not have any practical scheme to resolve issues of the Muslim community. They should be asked what they have done for the community.”
Terming the decision of AIMPLB and the Jamiat-e-Ulema-e-Hind to seek a review of the recent Ayodhya verdict as “double standard”, Sri Sri said Hindus and Muslims should move on and work towards strengthening the economy. “Yes I am happy with the Ayodhya verdict. I have been telling this since 2003 that both communities can work on it... Build mandir on one side and masjid on the other. But yeh zidd ki masjid wahi banana hai ka koi matlab nahi tha (stubbornness to build mosque at the disputed site was meaningless),” said Sri Sri in Kolkata on the sidelines of an event.
A special Bench of the Supreme Court, in its unanimous verdict on November 9, cleared the way for the construction of a Ram Temple at the disputed site at Ayodhya and directed the Centre to allot a five-acre plot to the Sunni Waqf Board for building a mosque. The Jamiat said last week that the draft of the review petition against the recent verdict was ready and the plea would be filed on December 3 or 4.
Criticising the two Muslim organisations, Sri Sri said, “The double standard is obvious. Earlier they had said they would accept the verdict, even if it goes against their interests. Now they are saying something different.” The 63-year-old spiritual guru, however, asserted that Ayodhya issue should “not be mixed up” with that of the Gyanvapi Mosque in Varanasi and Krishna Janambhoomi in Mathura, two other disputed sites.
Slamming the AIMPLB and the Jamiat, Naqvi said, “They are trying to create an atmosphere of division and confrontation which will not be accepted by any society.” Naqvi said for the Muslims the important issue is not just “Babri (mosque) but barabri (equality)” in the areas of education and economic and social upliftment.
“These isolated voices cannot be that of the whole society. The feeling of all sections of society is that this matter has been settled by the court and we should now accept it and move forward. If they (AIMPLB and Jamiat) were so serious why did they not agree to a compromise when the court earlier had asked them to solve the matter through dialogue,” the senior BJP leader said.