‘Ram mandir at disputed site in Ayodhya, a masjid in Lucknow’
RIZVI’S FORMULA FOUND SUPPORT AMONG SOME HINDU LEADERS AND GROUPS LIKE VHP BUT WAS DENOUNCED BY MAJORITY OF MUSLIMS
LUCKNOW: A grand temple to god Ram in Ayodhya and a “masjide-aman (mosque of peace)” 135km away in Lucknow is the latest proposal made by the Shia wakf board to resolve India’s most contentious religious dispute.
Uttar Pradesh Shia waqf board chairman Waseem Rizvi said the suggestion will be forwarded to the Supreme Court, which will on December 5 begin a final round of hearings to decide the ownership of 2.7-acre piece of land in Ayodhya. “After discussions with various parties we have prepared a proposal in which a Ram temple will be built in Ayodhya and a mosque in Lucknow,” Rizvi said on Monday.
A Mughal-era mosque, the Babri masjid, stood on the land before it was demolished by a Hindu mob on December 6, 1992. More than 3,000 people were killed in the communal violence that followed the demolition.
Rizvi’s formula found support among some Hindu groups including the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) but was denounced by majority of Muslims. “The proposal has come under pressure (from the BJP),” Shia leader Maulana Kalbe Jawad said.
The Shia board is not a litigant in the case and its position is opposite to that of the Sunni board that claims ownership of the disputed site and rejects Hindu groups’ claims to the spot.
Many Hindus believe Ram was born where Babur, the first Mughal emperor, built the mosque. Though several peace formulae have been proposed, this is the first suggestion that calls for building a mosque so far away from Ayodhya.
The suggestion is in line with Shia board’s another affidavit to the SC that said a mosque could be built in a Muslim-dominated area at a reasonable distance from the “most revered place of birth of Ram” in Ayodhya.
Rizvi’s move comes a few days after Art of Living founder Ravi Shankar visited the town to explore the possibility of an outof-court settlement. He failed to make much headway with both Hindu and Muslim groups questioning his locus standi.