Sri Sri predicts a ‘Syria’ unless ‘Ram Mandir’ is resolved

Trust godman Sri Sri Ravishankar to invoke images of the carnage in Syria! In an interview to India Today TV on Monday the godman declared that India would turn into Syria if the Ram Mandir issue is not resolved soon.

With a million Syrians injured in the eight-year old conflict and almost half a million killed and 12 million displaced from home, it is not clear what prompted the godman to conjure up such a frightening possibility over an issue that is being adjudicated by the courts.

The godman, whose ambition of receiving the Nobel Peace Prize is rather well known, has been busy trying to find an out-of-court settlement of the issue. On March 1 he again held a meeting with Maulana Salman Nadwi, who was eased out recently of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board for suggesting an out-of-court settlement of the vexed issues.

After meeting the godman, who has publicly ruled out the suggestion that a hospital be constructed at the site of the demolition of Babri mosque, a former IAS officer Dr Anis Ansari has proposed that Muslims do part with the land for the construction of a temple, provided the other ‘parties’ accept that the land indeed belonged to the Muslims. The land should first be in ‘legal posession’ of the Muslims before it could be handed over for the temple, he explains.

As per this formula, the retired bureaucrat suggests, a fatwa may be required by one or more of the top five Islamic Centres of theology including Cairo’s Al Aziz University, allowing such a transfer of land for construction of a Hindu temple. Such a fatwa would help settle confusion among Muslims that handing over land on which a mosque stood would be against their faith.

Other pre-conditions spelled out by the bureaucrat are:

• A suitable plot of land should be made available for the reconstruction of the Babri Mosque within a reasonable distance from the present site.
• Terms of the settlement should be part of the judicial decree of the Supreme Court. It should be law of the land and violation of any of the terms should render the settlement as void ab initio resulting in status quo ante.
• The proposal says that the Ram Janmabhumi movement is motivated by politics of Manuvad to suppress the claims of Hindu OBCs and Dalits for their share in power. It is likely similar motives may lead to demands on other places of worships of Muslims. Therefore, there should be legal guarantees that such additional demands would not be entertained by the state.

While Ansari and others were scheduled to meet the godman again to take the formula forward, he conceded that following the ouster of Salman Nadvi from AIMPLB, the next meeting scheduled later this month could get delayed.