March 08
Art of Living founder Sri Sri Ravi Shankar has said that India will turn into Syria if the Babri Masjid-Ram Janmabhoomi controversy is not resolved soon adding that Muslims should give up their claim on Ayodhya as a goodwill gesture.
In an interview with India Today, Shankar brought up the civil war in Syria, to say that Muslims should give up their claim on the Ayodhya site in Uttar Pradesh. “If Ram Mandir issue is not solved, we will have a Syria in India,” he claimed. “Muslims should give up their claim on Ayodhya as a goodwill gesture. Ayodhya is not place of faith for Muslims…We cannot make Lord Ram to be born in another place.”
The spiritual leader also indicated that the Supreme Court’s order on the disputed site will not make a difference. The only way forward, he claimed, is for Muslims to give up their claim on the site and build another mosque on a five-acre land in Ayodhya.
“According to Islam, you cannot pray in a disputed site so anyway they can’t have a mosque there,” Ravi Shankar said. “If court rules against a temple, there will be bloodshed. Do you think the Hindu majority will allow it? They will garner resentment towards the Muslim community.’’
Similarly, if the court rules in favour of a temple, Muslims will “feel defeated”, he said. “They may lose faith in the judiciary and there are chances of resorting to extremism. Exchange is the only solution.” (The Kashmir Walla)