Govt props Shahnawaz to resolve Ayodhya

Hussain, sole Muslim minister at the Centre, indicated that the move would involve Muslim MPs at some stage. As many as 35 Muslim MPs, belonging to all parties, have informally exchanged views on the issue at two dinner meetings, one hosted by him, and the other, by Congress member Jaffer Sharief.

Hussain said: ‘‘The question is, who represents the Muslim community? The Hindus have their Shankracharyas but we have numerous pretenders (hamari mussalmanon ki to solah dukanein hain). Someone has just a letterhead, someone brings out an Urdu newspaper. We all (the Muslim MPs) agree that the Government should talk to elected rather than selected members of the community.”

He made it clear that the Government wanted a negotiated settlement. ‘‘A lasting solution can be found only across the table,’’ he stressed, underlining that ‘‘otherwise, someone else would climb on it (disputed place) tomorrow and say, I want to undo the past. We want the Ayodhya temple to become a symbol of Hindu-Muslim amity… Hindutva is the best guarantee to security of Muslims. It cannot be bigoted.”