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S Viswanathan Editor

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I was proud and happy that three Tamilians – Justice Ibrahim Kalifullah, Sri Sri Ravishankar and senior advocate Sriram Panchu – were entrusted with the task of mediating on the contentious and intractable Ayodhya issue.
I was reminded of the principle enunciated by constitutional expert William Bennett Monroe, in his magnum opus, The Governments of Europe, that the work of experts must be supervised by laymen in justification of a political leader heading a democratic government department administered by civil servants.
In the Ayodhya context, the Trimurtis of Tamil Nadu suffers from a total unfamiliarity of customs, practices, language, and traditions of the Ayodhya region. The problem has remained intractable for decades; to understand the complexities of these and carry conviction with the warring factions of hardcore Muslims on the one side and the ardent Hindus on the other are not going to be easy. Particularly daunting should be the solution in a stipulated time of eight weeks.
The Supreme Court is expected to be decisive on the issues. After years of hearing arguments at different stages and at the Supreme Court, there is the expectation of a decision that would put the finality on the issue. The task of entrusting it to another committee appears puzzling.