The Art of Living founder and a known supporter of the BJP, Ravi Shankar, has warned of bloodshed in the event that the Supreme Court did not rule in favour of the Hindus on the Babri Mosque dispute.
He told NDTV, “Suppose the court says this is Babri Masjid and this should be given away, you think the country will take that judgement easily, happily? It will be a bitter pill for the majority community to feel defeated after 500 years of conflict.. Is it easy to implement that order to give that place back. Will we be able to do this without some bloodshed? It will cause a huge problem, people know this. Let’s be realistic. Shifting that Ram Lala and making the majority community defeated, you cannot be at peace.”
Ironically, his warning bloodshed came in the same interview where he claimed that his organisation existed only bridge the gap in society.
The controversial guru also added that Muslims too may resort to extremism if the court ruled in favour of temple. He said, that if the top court ruled in favour of a temple, ‘Muslims will feel defeated’ adding that the members of the minority community may even lose faith in judiciary and there are chances of them resorting to extremism. He said the exchange and out of court settlement was the only solution adding that ‘Muslims will get 5 acres of land in return, elsewhere in Ayodhya.’
Ravi Shankar, whose organisation AOL was fined Rs 5 crore for damaging the Yamuna flood plains by holding a three-day cultural festival, also said that he was open to speaking to the AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi. He said, “I am open to speaking Asaduddin Owaisi. I don’t think he truly gets my perspective. Any sane person would agree to a win-win situation.”
The National Green Tribunal last year had issued notice to Ravi Shankar on a contempt plea against him
The 16th century Babri Mosque was demolished by Hindutva fanatics led by BJP leaders on 6 December 1992. The destruction of the mosque had triggered nationwide communal riots that killed thousands of people, mostly Muslims. Ravi Shankar is looked at with suspicion by Muslims for being a known proponent of the right-wing Hindutva ideology.