'Last Mughal descendant' wants out-of-court settlement of Ayodhya dispute

Prince Yakub Habeebuddin Tucy petitions to be made caretaker of demolished Babri mosque

Prince Yakub Habeebuddin Tucy, the man claiming to be the descendant of last Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar, said on Tuesday that he favoured an out-of-court settlement on the vexed Ayodhya dispute.

He said that the matter should be resolved amicably through talks between religious heads of both communities and the people of Ayodhya.

Art of Living founder, Sri Sri Ravi Shanker, recently proposed to mediate between Hindu and Muslim religious figures and announced that he was already in touch with them for an out-of-court settlement of the dispute. Tucy supported Ravi Shankar’s initiative and said that the spiritual guru always preached universal peace.

On December 5, the Supreme Court is scheduled to hear appeals relating to the Ayodhya dispute. A three-judge bench has been constituted to hear a bunch of petitions, which will challenge the Allahabad High Court verdict, regarding the ownership title of the disputed site in the temple town.

Talking to reporters here this afternoon, Tucy said he had also forwarded a demand to the Uttar Pradesh Sunni Central Waqf Board to appoint him as the mutawalli (caretaker) of the demolished Babri mosque as he was the direct descendant of the Mughals and legal heir to the last Mughal emperor, Bahadur Shah Zafar. He has also submitted supporting documents, including a DNA report linking him to the Mughal lineage and a court order declaring him as the legal heir.

He further announced that he would move the court if the Board failed to act in this matter.

Yesterday, he met UP minorities affairs minister Chaudhary Laxmi Narayan regarding the same.

He will be visiting Ayodhya tomorrow to meet the Hindu and Muslim religious leaders, apart from the common people to gauge their mood towards the peaceful and mutually acceptable resolution of the issue.

“We have also sought an appointment with UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath. However, I firmly believe that since the Ayodhya case relates to the matter of faith, it should be best settled outside the domain of courts and politics,” he added.

So far he had been waiting for the issue to be settled by the court or through mutual consent. “However, now,  I feel that time is running out and the issue has snowballed into a purely political slugfest, which is creating a wedge between communities.”

Tucy, who lives in Hyderabad and is the caretaker of several Mughal monuments and shrines.

On demand of UP Shia Central Waqf Board chairman Waseem Rizvi that the Ayodhya disputed site be handed over to Shias, since it was built by first Mughal emperor Babur’s Shia army commander Mir Baqi, Tucy noted Shias had no locus standi on Mughal properties or monuments, since Mughals were Sunni rulers.

Rizvi also supported the proposed 100-metre Lord Ram statue on the banks of Saryu in Ayodhya claiming it would promote the essence of Ganga-Jamuni Tehzeeb (communal harmony) of the Awadh region. The Yogi government had proposed the Ram statue project. However, it would need the National Green Tribunal's (NGT) nod.