Iqbal Ansari, a litigant in the Ramjanmabhoomi-Babri Masjid case, received an invite to the consecration ceremony of the Ram temple in Ayodhya and said he would attend the event.
"This is Ayodhya nagri. It is a city of religion - deities of Hindu and Muslim communities are present here. There is brotherhood and unity among the Hindus and Muslims of Ayodhya and there is no unease. Whether it is a temple, a mosque, or a gurdwara, there is no discrimination. There is a feeling of harmony for those coming to Ayodhya," he told news agency PTI soon after receiving the invitation.
The invitation was hand-delivered to him at his house in Kotia Panjitola near the Ram Path, his daughter Shama Parveen told the news agency.
More than a lakh devotees are expected to descend on the temple town for the 'pran-pratishtha' on January 22. According to sources, the invitee list has around 7,000 guests from India and abroad.
Mr Ansari, in his late 50s, on December 31 told PTI in an interview that the Muslim community respected the 2019 Supreme Court verdict on the Ram temple issue.
Settling a fractious issue that goes back more than a century, the top court in a historic verdict backed the construction of a Ram temple by a trust at the disputed site in Ayodhya and ruled that an alternative five-acre plot must be found for a mosque in the Hindu holy town.
Asked about Prime Minister Narendra Modi's tenure, he said, "Under the PM's tenure, we are getting to see the ethos of 'Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas'... I will congratulate him for Ayodhya's 'vikas' (development)."
The invitation cover had Mr Ansari's name in Hindi - "Shri Iqbal Ansari Ji, Ayodhya (Awadh Prant)". It was delivered to him by a representative of the temple trust.
"Because, we have been visiting 'Math-Mandir' earlier as well, and we even visited today... I was invited to the 'bhoomipujan' ceremony too. And now 'pran-pratishtha' is going to take place. I have been invited to that as well," he said, adding, "I will go."
PM Modi on August 5, 2020, performed the 'bhoomipujan' ceremony in Ayodhya, and a month before the 'pran-pratishtha', he visited the temple town on December 30 during which he held a roadshow, inaugurated the redeveloped Ayodhya railway station and the newly-built airport.
Saints and seers showered flower petals as PM Modi's carcade passed through Ram Path, as did many other commoners, and among them was Mr Ansari.
"This is our tradition. We welcome guests who come to our city," he said.
Ansari's father Hashim Ansari, who died in 2016 in his late 90s, was one of the main litigants in the Ayodhya case till his demise.
While much has changed in Ayodhya since the landmark verdict, the Ram temple issue and the history of the dispute continue to weigh on the minds of many people.
Ansari feels the contentious issue had "practically ended" more than 30 years ago when the 16th-century mosque was brought down.
On December 6, 1992, a frenzied mob of kar sewaks gathered in the holy town from different parts of the country and demolished the mosque, triggering communal violence in many parts of the country.
The dispute over the site of Babri Masjid, a three-domed mosque built by or at the behest of Mughal emperor Babur in 1528, dates back centuries with Hindus contending that the invading Muslim armies had razed an existing Ram temple to erect the mosque, a claim rejected by Muslims. PTI KND RHL
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
