Waqf Board only showing layout of proposed mosque, it will not help: former Ayodhya title case litigant

Iqbal Ansari questions why the board has not gone beyond showing the design of a proposed mosque at the allotted site even though it has been over four years since the Supreme Court judgment

Iqbal Ansari, a former litigant in the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid land dispute case, speaks to the media about the upcoming consecration ceremony of Ram Temple in Ayodhya on Tuesday. | Photo Credit: ANI

Iqbal Ansari, a former litigant in the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid title case, on Tuesday targeted the Uttar Pradesh Sunni Central Waqf Board for failing to build a mosque on the alternate five-acre land that the Supreme Court awarded to it more than four years ago and said that only showing a layout will not help.

“More than four years passed by, but U.P. Sunni Central Waqf Board failed to do anything apart from only showing a proposed mosque layout, which is against the religion. They should do what they are mandated to do. Only showing the layout/design will not help,” he told The Hindu.

‘Happy about temple construction’

Mr. Ansari added that the issue has been put to rest with the Supreme Court judgment.“Our issue was only till Ayodhya [Ayodhya title dispute case] was from the lower courts till the Supreme Court. The matter is now over. We welcomed the top court’s verdict. There is no dispute and we are happy here [Ayodhya] with the construction of the [Ram] temple,” said Mr. Ansari.

The former litigant was seen showering flowers as he stood in line to welcome Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his visit to Ayodhya on December 30. His father Hashim Ansari, the oldest litigant in the case, died at the age of 95 in 2016, after which Iqbal pursued the matter.

In November 2019, the Supreme Court permitted the construction of a Ram Temple in Ayodhya, at the site where the 16th century Babri Masjid once stood. In the same order, the top court asked the government to allot a suitable five-acre plot in Ayodhya to the Sunni Central Waqf Board for the construction of a mosque. The Sunni Central Waqf Board later formed the Indo Islamic Cultural Foundation (IICF) for building a new mosque in the five acres of land allotted by the government in Dhannipur area of the district.

Last year, the proposed mosque got a new name and design after objections from the community on its previous “contemporary” style.