VHP leader Ashok Singhal and other leaders, after their meeting with the Samajwadi leaders, had claimed that they had asked Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav to negotiate for an out-of-court settlement on the Ram temple issue since the matter was taking long in the Supreme Court.
“We have told Mr Yadav and he has agreed that there would be no change in the status quo situation in Ayodhya and talks, at this stage, will not serve any purpose,” he said.
The VHP leaders had met chief minister Akhilesh Yadav and Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav on Saturday to seek permission and security for the yatra.
Senior advocate Zafaryab Jilani, who is also a senior member of the All-India Muslim Personal Law Board and its committee on Babri Mosque, also met Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav and asserted that there was no scope for any negotiations on the issue since the matter was already pending before the Supreme Court.
The Muslim leaders have termed the VHP leaders’ meeting with SP leaders as “uncalled for”.
Maulana Qasim Rasool Ilyas, another senior member of the AIMPLB, was even more assertive when eh said, “The Board is not interested in any further negotiations and will wait for the final judicial verdict.” The Muslim leaders had also opposed the VHP’s proposed yatra.
The 84-kosi yatra, proposed by the VHP between August 25 and September 13, was scheduled to pass through the five districts of Faizabad, Ambedkar Nagar, Gonda, Basti and Bahraich. It was being regarded as the VHP’s biggest public movement after the “purna aahuti mahayagya” in 2002 and was expected to drum up support for the Ram temple issue during the yatra.