'Talks among stakeholders on Ram temple'

Even as the Supreme Court is slated to take up the issue of Ram temple construction at the disputed site at Ayodhya for daily hearing from December 5, spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar has said talks among the stakeholders are underway and a consensus is expected soon for resolving the religious dispute.

Backing his claim, BJP MP Subramanian Swamy, who has been mediating on the issue for a while now, claimed that the Ram temple case will be sorted out soon.

The All India Muslim Personal Law Board, however, ruled out any out of court settlement and insisted that the SC must decide on Ram temple construction.

Speaking to a news channel, Sri Sri said ideally the dispute should be resolved before the apex court order.

"This is an opportunity for both the communities to show magnanimity and come closer to each other. You know, ...whatever the court orders...we will miss these opportunities if we wait for the court's order," latest interlocutor Sri Sri said.

A set of meetings among the stakeholders have taken place early this month in Ayodhya.

Sri Sri also stated: "...People have realised that they have to move on, they have to come closer and there are many other issues to worry about. So we should resolve this. This is I think the feeling among both the communities".

The Centre, for its part, prefers to wait for the court verdict but does not mind the mediation. Union law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said that his opinion as lawyer of Ram Lalla is that "honest mediation is welcome" but past trend indicates that conciliation attempts have not yielded results. "Let it be adjudicated by the court," Prasad pointed
out.