Shiv Sena on Ayodhya issue: Mediation does not work in emotive matters

The Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri masjid case is an emotional issue and cannot be resolved through mediation, the Shiv Sena said on Saturday, asking the centre to promulgate an ordinance and start the construction of Ram temple.

When the country's politicians and the courts have not been able to resolve the issue so far, what would the three mediators do, the party asked.

Giving another chance for mediation, the top court had on Friday ordered the setting up a three-member panel headed by former Supreme Court judge Justice FM Ibrahim Kalifulla to explore a possible settlement of the decades-old Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri masjid land dispute in Ayodhya.

Spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravishankar and senior advocate Sriram Panchu, known for his mediation experience, will be the other two members of the panel.

The Sena said the top court has deferred a decision on the Ram Janmabhoomi dispute and the matter will now be decided only after the Lok Sabha elections.

"The only question is that if the issue could be resolved through mediation, why did the dispute continue for 25 years and why hundreds of people had to lose their lives?" the Shiv Sena said in an editorial in party mouthpiece Saamana.

"The country's politicians, rulers and the Supreme Court have not been able to resolve the issue and what would the mediators achieve now? If the protesters did not want mediation on the issue for all these years, why is the Supreme Court trying to do it now? Ayodhya is not just an issue of land, but is an emotional one.

It has been experienced that mediation and arbitration do not work in such sensitive matters," it said.

"People strongly feel that the Centre should promulgate an ordinance and start working on the construction of Ram temple. We had said the same thing in Ayodhya," the mouthpiece said, referring to Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray's visit to Ayodhya in November 2018.

-PTI