The Shahi Imam of the Delhi Jama Masjid, Syed Ahmed Bukhari, on Saturday criticised the 'secret' meeting between the All India Muslim Personal Law Board president Maulana Rabey Hasani Nadvi and Kanchi seer Jayendra Saraswati on the Ayodhya issue recently.

He said the board would not be allowed to 'bargain' on the issue of the Babri masjid.

He said the Shankaracharya had also approached him through a 'Muslim middleman' to hold a secret meeting on the Babri issue. Bukhari wondered why the meeting between Maulana Rabey and Shankarachara on June 7 in Lucknow was kept 'secret'.

The Kanchi seer, he claimed, had sent some suggestions through the same middleman for the construction of Ram Temple at the demolished site of Babri masjid, which he had rejected insisting that the 'negotiations should be transparent and open for all'.

He said the question at the moment was not the construction of a mandir or a masjid, but the 'ownership' of the land and no party can talk on the issue till the court decides the issue of the ownership.

PTI