New Delhi: Shahi Imam of Delhi Jama Masjid Syed Ahmed Bukhari on June 14 criticised the "secret" meeting of president of All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) Maulana Rabey Hasani Nadvi with Kanchi seer Jayendra Saraswati on Ayodhya issue recently and said the Board would not be allowed to "bargain" on the issue of Babri masjid.

Maintaining that first the Shankaracharya approached him through a "Muslim middleman" to hold a secret talk on Babri issue, Bukhari asked why the meeting between Maulana Rabey and Shankaracharya on June 7 in Lucknow was kept "secret".

The Kanchi seer, he claimed, had sent some suggestions through the same middleman for the construction of Ram Temple at the demolished site of Babri Masjid, which he had rejected insisting that the "negotiations should be transparent and open for all".

He said the question at the moment was not the construction of Mandir or a Masjid, but the "ownership" of the land, so how any party can talk on the issue till the court decides the issue of ownership.

"Apart from this, the question of negotiations does not arise till the idols are there on the Babri Masjid site," he said.

PTI