National Security Advisor Ajit Doval met several leaders from the Hindu and Muslim communities after the Supreme Court’s landmark Ayodhya verdict, the Hindustan Times reported on Sunday.

A Constitution Bench of the top court directed the Centre on Saturday to set up a trust should within three months to oversee the construction of a Ram temple in Ayodhya. The court also asked the government to provide a five-acre plot elsewhere in Ayodhya for the construction of a new mosque as a relief for the “unlawful destruction” of the Babri Masjid in 1992.

Doval’s meeting with religious leaders on Saturday took place at his residence and was attended by 18 Hindu religious leaders and intellectuals with 12 Muslim clerics and scholars. In a joint statement, the attendees pledged full-fledged support to the government to maintain peace and order.

“Those attending the meeting were alive to the fact that certain anti-national and hostile elements, both within and outside the country, may attempt to exploit the situation to harm our national interest,” the statement said after the four-hour-long meeting, according to NDTV.

Among the religious leaders from the Hindu community who attended the meeting were members of the Hindu Dharmacharya Sabha and Vishwa Hindu Parishad. They reportedly praised the Centre and the public for ensuring peace and harmony are kept intact after the judgement.

The statement said that the meeting helped them “strengthen communication between top religious leaders” to keep the spirit of brotherhood among all communities. They stressed on how national interest trumped all other considerations, adding that the communities should ensure continuous communication.

“Everyone expressed resolve to ensure harmony in the country by appealing to their respective followers,” religious leader Parmatmananda Saraswati said after the meeting. “In the digital world, there are many in the country and abroad who want to create a disturbance. The meeting was to discuss proactive steps to check such elements.”

Syed Zainul Abedin Ali Khan, who is the head of the Hazrat Khwaja Moinuddin Hasan Chisti shrine, said such gatherings should be welcomed. He added that it was time for “Hindu-Muslim issues” to end and called for everyone’s contribution to the improve education and eliminate poverty.

Religious leader Chidanand Sarawasti from Parmarth Niketan in Rishikesh claimed that resolution to all the matters in India was in the Constitution and compared the Ayodhya case to the September 11 terror attacks in the United States. “9/11 of the US was to divide people, this 9/11 [referring to the Supreme Court verdict] was to bring people together,” he said.

The attendees included yoga guru Ramdev, religious leaders Avadheshanand, Vishwesha Teertha Pejawar Swami, Vishwa Hindu Parishad Working President Alok Kumar, and other leaders from the organisation along with All India Muslim Majlis-e-Mushawrat President Navaid Hamid, All India Ulema Council President (Mumbai) Maulana Kalbe Jawad and Maulana Azad University President Professor Akhtrul Wasey.

All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Saturday had voiced his disapproval of the Supreme Court judgement and said that the top court was “indeed supreme but not infallible”. He had said that the offer of five acres of land should be rejected, adding “don’t patronise us”.

Also read:

1.To truly achieve justice in Ayodhya, the people behind Babri demolition must be brought to book

2.Supreme Court rejected division of Ayodhya site – but based its decision on such divisions

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