Mumbai: Vice President of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board and Shia prophet Maulana Kalbe Sadiq said, Muslims should hand over the Babri Masjid plot for construction of a Ram temple during a peace and harmony meeting on Sunday.
“The Supreme Court verdict, when it comes, if it is not in favour of Muslims, they should give it to Hindus. Muslims should calmly and peacefully accept that verdict. If Muslims win, it is my humble request that they should happily hand over the land to Hindus. If you do not give anything, you will not get anything in return.
If you give this one plot, you will win crores of hearts,” the maulana told the World Peace and Harmony conclave in Mumbai. Union Minister for Science and Technology Harsh Vardhan and yoga televangelist Ramdev were present at the event.
The Muslim personal law board disassociated itself from Kalbe Sadiq’s comment. “These are his personal views. The AIMPLB has said categorically that it will abide by whatever verdict the court gives. Maulana Kalbe Sadiq was part of this decision that was taken both by the AIMPLB general body as well as the executive body.
There is no point taking a new decision now. We all should wait for the SC verdict,” AIMPLB member Maulana Khalid Rasheed Firnagimahli said. Maulana Sadiq has been espousing an out-of-court settlement on the Ayodhya conflict and had earlier this year stated that Hindus should be allowed to build a temple in Ayodhya.
Last week, the Shia Central Waqf Board had decided to challenge the Sunni Waqf Board’s claim over the Babri Masjid and suggested an “amicable settlement” to the dispute, claiming that the demolished masjid was a Shia Waqf property.
It suggested the construction of a new mosque at a distance from the temple. The maulana’s statement was welcomed by Harsh Vardhan and Ramdev. “Maulana saheb has won our hearts today. People know that Bhagwan Shri Ram is not of Hindu or Muslims but the soul and heart of all of us,” the minister said.
Ramdev said the tussle was not a fight over land but about people’s conscience. “Babri Masjid-Ram Janmabhoomi ye zameen ka masla nahin hai. Ye zameer ka masla hai. Aur zameer lene se nahin, par dene se chalta hai (This is not an issue of land but of conscience. Your conscience is proved not by taking things but by giving them),” Ramdev said.
