By Sunita Aron
Mumbai, January 18 – When the Dalai Lama greeted 2004 with an appeal to settle the insoluble Ayodhya issue, it seemed that here at last might be a peacebroker acceptable to all sides.
Deputy Prime Minister LK Advani’s endorsement of the call only buttressed this impression. At least as far as the media was concerned, the end was in sight.
However, the fortnight after his statement has seen nothing but a deafening silence. No party to the vexed masjid-mandir issue — Vishwa Hindu Parishad, the All India Muslim Personal Law Board, the RSS, the Jamiyat-E-Ulema Hind etc — has received an invite from his office.
Though Minister of State for Home Swamy Chinmayanand feels Dalai Lama’s neutrality could play a pivotal role in resolving the dispute, VHP leaders are sceptical. However they as well as the AIMPLB have welcomed the initiative.
But the moot question is, what radical solution can the Buddhist guru offer the two communities? Why would the two communities accept anything that goes against their perceived interests?
Says one VHP leader, “When the revered Kanchi Seer could not prevail upon us — or the AIMPLB — to forsake claim on the land, how can Dalai Lama influence us?” There is great respect for the Dalai, but he is unlikely to carry any weight in Uttar Pradesh, he adds.
There are other attempts at a solution going into the Lok Sabha poll mode.
The Centre invited the AIMPLB for talks, but the latter turned it down. Asgar Rizvi, the founder of Ayodhya Jama Masjid Trust, has had meetings with Vishnu Hari Dalmia on November 18, K.S. Sudershan on December 20, Ashok Singhal on December 26, and the latest, with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar on January 16.
