UP Sunni Central Waqf Board Chairman, Zafar Farooqui, maintains that the board presented reconciliation proposals with conditions. The court refused to accept them, stating that reconciliation was contingent on fulfilling all conditions, an aspect on which all parties did not reach a consensus.
Mohammad Alamullah | Clarion India
NEW DELHI — In the runup to the inauguration of Ram Temple in Ayodhya on January 22, Hindu dharma guru Shankaracharya Swami Aemukteshwar Anand has sparked a controversy by asserting that the resolution to the longstanding Babri Masjid-Ram Temple dispute did not transpire through the Supreme Court’s decision but instead through “out-of-court arbitration.”
In an exclusive interview with journalist Karan Thapar, Swami Aemukteshwar Anand contended that the resolution was made possible due to an affidavit filed by the UP Sunni Central Waqf Board in court, renouncing its ownership of the Babri Masjid site. He claimed that the Supreme Court’s role was essentially to read out the judgment after the withdrawal of the Sunni Central Waqf Board’s claim paving the way for the dispute’s resolution.
Contradicting the assertion, UP Sunni Central Waqf Board Chairman, Zafar Farooqui, maintained that the Supreme Court’s decision was based on merit. He said that the board presented reconciliation proposals with conditions. The court refused to accept them, stating that reconciliation was contingent on fulfilling all conditions, an aspect on which all parties did not reach a consensus.
Farooqui emphasised that the court did not accept all the conditions and suggestions of the board, suggesting that the affidavit alone was not the key reason that resolved the dispute. Several factors were considered by the Supreme Court in reaching its decision, he said.
While the Babri Masjid complex was under the ownership of the UP Sunni Central Waqf Board, the board, according to the Supreme Court order, now possesses the ownership rights to the five acres of land allocated for the mosque. The board intends to construct a mosque, hospital, public kitchen, library, etc., on this land, though progress remains confined to paperwork while construction work at the Ram Temple site is in full swing.
