Ayodhya dispute: Too many mediators complicating Temple talks

Lucknow: With number of religious leaders mediating in the Ayodhya dispute, the issue is expectedly getting increasingly complicated. UP Shia Waqf Board chief Waseem Rizvi, on Sunday, met some key players from Hindu and Muslim sides in Ayodhya to pave the way for the temple construction and claimed that the results were ‘positive’. His initiative was thwarted when Iqbal Ansari, son of the original appellant Hashim Ansari, walked out of the meeting Mr Iqbal Ansari said the proposal put forward by Waseem Rizvi was not acceptable. 

“We do not need him for negotiations. For peaceful solution of Ayodhya dispute, we will talk to local sadhus and mahants of Ayodhya and not an outsider. Waseem Rizvi is trying to save himself from different inquiries going on against him for illegal selling of Shia Waqf properties,” he told this newspaper. Swami Chakrapani, President of Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha and an appellant in the Supreme Court regarding the title dispute, said, “Nobody is talking to original appellants in the Supreme Court. Many people are attempting to act as negotiators but this is all for media and publicity and has no meaning”.

Spiritual leader Ravishankar will be in Ayodhya later this week to continue negotiations for an acceptable solution to the dispute. However, BJP MP Dr Ram Vilas Vedanti has already rejected the efforts of the spiritual leader.  “How can someone who has never been associated with the movement and never had darshan of the Ram Lalla, mediate on the matter of temple construction. We have gone to jail for it, faced house arrest and have been fighting court cases. Sri Sri Ravishankar is not a party in the dispute and does not qualify to mediate on the matter”, he said. Waseen Rizvi Also said that Ravishankar was talking to wrong people. Sunni Waqf Board counsel Zafaryab Jilani, meanwhile, said that efforts were being made to mislead people and complicate the Ayodhya issue.