New Delhi: All India Muslim Majlis-e-Mushawarat (AIMMM) on February 26 rejected a
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) proposal that Muslims "gift" away the disputed land at
Ayodhya for construction of Ram temple, maintaining that it was the "masjid site"
and no such "religious authority existed to make such a gift".
"Muslims, individually or collectively, have no religious authority to sign away a
masjid site or its structure," AIMMM president Syed Shahabuddin said in a letter to
BJP president M Venkaiah Naidu, copies of which were released to the media.
Shahabuddin was responding to Naidu's remark that Muslims "gift" the piece of land
to Hindus in the interest of national integration and brotherhood, arguing that the
place had more significance for the majority community, since it was the "birth
place of Lord Ram".
"We have taken note of your desire…" the AIMMM leader said in the letter to Naidu,
adding, "We feel the process of national integration suffered a rude shock and the
sentiment of brotherhood a serious damage when the masjid was illegally occupied in
1949, converted into a de facto 'mandir' in 1986 and demolished in 1992."
He said the title suit was in the "final stage" and "it would indeed be a test of
your commitment to national integration and brotherhood if you ask the Vishwa Hindu
Parishad (VHP) to commit itself to accept the final judicial verdict on the question
of title".
PTI
