The Babri Action Committee has denied reports that it met spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar to ask him to mediate in the dispute, ANI reported.

“Long back one of Ravi Shankar’s mediators called saying he wants to talk with me and I welcomed it,” one of the committee’s members, Haji Mehboob, was quoted as saying. “Maybe he had a conversation with the Hindu representatives but he never talked with us nor had he sent us any message.”

But the committee did not have a problem if Ravi Shankar wanted to talk and help resolve the dispute, he added.

Earlier, reports had said that the founder of the Art of Living Foundation met members of the Nirmohi Akhara and the All India Muslim Personal Law Board, which are involved in a legal battle over the matter, India Today reported.

“Some people came and met me that is all,” Ravi Shankar told the magazine. “There is positive energy with everybody and people want to settle the issue. If I need be to play that role [mediator], am all willing to do that.”

The Supreme Court will next hear the Babri Masjid-Ram Temple case on December 5.

The row over the ownership of the 2.7 acres of the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid land has raged on for decades. On December 6, 1992, Hindu volunteers gathered at the site had demolished the mosque. The incident had triggered communal riots across the country.

Congress ‘praises’ Ravi Shankar’s efforts

The Congress on Saturday lauded the spiritual leader’s efforts to hold talks, ANI reported. “While this matter [is] subjudice, the court did say that this matter can be settled outside the court and if efforts have been made by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar to solve the problem, it is [a] welcome decision,” Senior Congress leader Tom Vadakkan said.

Vadakkan added that the matter must be discussed properly with all the stakeholders involved, and no one must be forced to do something. “If done amicably, it is good for the country.”

KTS Tulsi, another Congress leader, also welcomed the decision and said that anyone is welcome to break the impasse. “Let us hope better sense prevails, because mediation is always far more desirable than adjudication,” Tulsi said.