Ayodhya row: Umbrella body of Muslim groups seeks president's 'urgent intervention', highlights presence of 'unruly mobs' in town

Aligarh: The All India Muslim Majlis-e-Mushawarat (AIMMM) on Sunday wrote to President Ram Nath Kovind, seeking his urgent intervention into the developments in Ayodhya, where the VHP organised a public meeting to press for construction of a Ram temple. An umbrella body of more than a dozen Muslim religious and social organisations, the AIMMM said in its letter that the presence of “unruly mobs” in Ayodhya is a clear pointer to the way things are moving in an unchecked manner in Uttar Pradesh. The Vishva Hindu Group (VHP), a right-wing group, called for the public meeting, ‘Dharam Sabha’, which is being touted as the largest congregation of ‘Ram bhakts’ in Ayodhya since the 1992 ‘kar seva’. [caption id=“attachment_4404537” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of President Ram Nath Kovind. PTI[/caption] The organisers have claimed that more than three lakh devotees, including seers, will attend the meeting to be held at Bade Bhakt Mal Ki Baghia, not far from the controversial Ram Janmabhoomi Nyas-run workshop, where work to build a temple has been underway since 1990. “If any attempt is made to forcibly change the status quo at the disputed site at Ayodhya, it would tantamount to a gross violation of the orders of the Supreme Court,” AIMMM chief Navid Hamid said in the letter. It said the lives and safety of thousands of innocent people were at stake and alleged that the Uttar Pradesh government was displaying “total negligence of its responsibility” to maintain peace in the state. Hamid said the state government cannot abdicate its constitutional responsibility of protecting all citizens.