Ayodhya row: Shiv Sena, Owaisi lash out at Sri Sri Ravi Shankar for 'India like Syria' remark

NEW DELHI: All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi slammed Sri Sri Ravi Shankar for his remarks on the Ayodhya dispute stating that the spiritual guru should be arrested for commenting on a sub-judice matter.

"This is nothing but threatening us. When the matter is sub-judice, with what motive is Sri Sri Ravi Shankar making those statements? He has committed contempt of court by speaking about a matter that is pending in the Supreme Court," he said on Tuesday.

The AIMIM leader said that in the wake of the threatening talks, the Supreme Court should take up the proceedings on the Babri case only after the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. "After his open threat of infighting people saying that if the issue is not decided in favour of X group, then India would become like Syria, I think the Supreme Court should not hear this matter till the next Lok Sabha elections because politics is being done over it," he said adding that the statement was deliberately made before the hearing on the issue in the court on March 14.

Owaisi also alleged that Ravi Shankar's comments show he was not a man of peace and does not believe in the Constitution.

BJP ally Shiv Sena also condemned the spiritual guru's remark asking him to stay away from Ayodhya issue. "In Ayodhya matter, gurumaharaj has issued a threat, he has tried to create panic by predicting the future. He has given license to chaos by attaching ISIS to Ram Mandir issue. This must be investigated, such statements do not suit a spiritual guide," Sena said in an editorial in its mouthpiece Saamana.

Ravi Shankar had stoked a controversy by saying that there will be bloodshed if court rules against a temple. "If court rules against a temple, there will be bloodshed. Do you think the Hindu majority will allow it? They will garner resentment towards the Muslim community," he had said.

"According to Islam, you cannot pray in a disputed site so anyway they can't have a mosque there. This way everyone wins," he had said.