Iqbal Ansari, one of the litigants in the Ayodhya land dispute case, played a notable role in welcoming Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his recent visit to Ayodhya. Having received the first invitation card for the ‘Bhoomi Pujan’ of the Ram temple, Ansari marked the occasion by showering rose petals on Modi’s cavalcade during a roadshow.
Ansari’s involvement in the Ayodhya case took a significant turn after his father, Hashim Ansari, the oldest litigant in the dispute, passed away in 2016. Following his father’s demise, Iqbal took up the legal pursuit of the case.
Expressing his gratitude for Modi’s visit, Ansari considered it fortunate and suggested that the Prime Minister should perform the ‘Pran Pratishtha’ ritual during the upcoming historic Ram Temple consecration ceremony on January 22.
Ansari, along with other litigants, including Haji Mahboob and Mohammad Umar, had previously ruled out any out-of-court settlement for the Ayodhya dispute. In a resolution passed at a local Muslim meeting in Ayodhya, it was affirmed that Muslims would not shift the mosque to any other site.
The Supreme Court, on November 9, 2019, backed the construction of the Ram temple at the disputed site in Ayodhya and mandated the allocation of an alternative five-acre plot for a mosque in the Hindu holy town.
As Ayodhya prepares for the historic event, Ansari’s gesture of showering rose petals symbolizes a moment of significance in the ongoing narrative of the Ram temple’s construction.
