LUCKNOW: VHP international president Ashok Singhal met Akhil Bharatiya Akhara Parishad president Mahant Gyan Das and held over an hour-long meeting, despite the opposition by the oldest Muslim litigant Hashim Ansari to the involvement of any non-Ayodhya religious or political element in the negotiations for an amicable out-of-court settlement to the Ramjanambhoomi-Babri mosque dispute.
It is believed that the VHP wants to ensure a consensus among the Hindu seers and sants about the place of the construction of a mosque through the negotiations between the rival parties to the dispute before the meeting of the high-powered committee of the Hindu leaders for the construction of the temple at the place allotted by the Allahabad High Court.
On Tuesday, Singhal had separate meetings with Ramjanambhoomi Nyas senior member Ram Vilas Das Vedanti and Nyas president Mahant Nritya Gopal Das.
The second meeting was also attended by Vedanti, along with VHP general secretary Dinesh and Awadh Prant organisational secretary Kaushal Kishore. Singhal is likely to stay in Ayodhya till Thursday, according to VHP sources. The VHP legal cell is busy discussing the alternative place for the construction of the mosque for replacement of the Babri mosque, which was destroyed by Hindu zealots on December 6, 1992. It is reportedly not in favour of allowing a replacement for the Babri mosque anywhere within the holy city limits.
However, what had transpired in the meetings has not been made public yet. Ansari had said that he was in no mood to participate in any discussion for an amicable settlement to the dispute with anyone who had no direct relation with the Hindu holy city, and he had already voiced objection to Vedanti’s reported statement that the issue of the construction of the temple devoted to Ramlalla would be decided by the high-powered committee. In fact, he had also made it known that he would not discuss anything with his ‘old friends from the Hindu side in Ayodhya if the media is allowed to attend such meetings’.