New Delhi: The Supreme Court of India on March 21 suggested an out of court settlement for the controversial plan to build a temple dedicated to Lord Ram at the site of a demolished mosque.

The Ram temple in Ayodhya is a “sensitive,” “sentimental issue” and should be sorted outside court through discussion, the apex court noted. It also said it would step in only if the matter can’t be resolved through talks.

A decision in the matter has been pending since 2010, when the Supreme Court put a freeze on a judgment by the Allahabad High Court. The High Court judgment had said Lord Ram was born under the central dome of the makeshift temple in Ayodhya and Hindus have the right to worship there.

“It is an issue of sentiment and religion. First sit together and sort out. Both sides employ moderators and hold meetings,” said Chief Justice J S Khehar, while hearing an urgent appeal from Subramanian Swamy, a senior member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) that heads the federal coalition government. “We can come into the picture if you can’t solve the issue,” the judge added.

Swamy had requested the top court to take up an appeal to build the Ram Mandir. In his response to Justice Khehar, Swamy said it is difficult to make both communities sit together and judicial intervention is needed in the matter.

“If you want some principal mediator, we can arrange,” the chief justice said. Asked if he would want to mediate, Chief Justice Khehar said in a lighter vein, “If you want me I can, but will not sit in the bench.”

Mahesh Sharma, a federal minister and another senior BJP leader, said the federal government would “love to mediate between the two sides.”

Welcoming the court’s “concern, Zafar Yab Gilani, convener of Babri Masjid Action Committee, said, “We wish to inform the court that private negotiations are not possible… For the last 31 years, we have been trying. If the chief justice nominates some bench to intervene, that could happen.”

The proposed Ram temple in Ayodhya has been one of controversial and divisive issues in the country since 1992 when Hindu zealots demolished a 16th century mosque in Ayodhya, a town in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.

The BJP, which won a resounding victory in the recent elections to the Uttar Pradesh legislative assembly, has said it was committed to exploring all constitutional options to ensure that the temple is built in Ayodhya. Ahead of the elections, BJP chief Amit Shah had said there was no contradiction between the temple issue and development, his party’s primary poll plank, and they can “co-exist.”

During his first meeting with top officials on March 20, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath distributed copies of the BJP manifesto and asked his officials to begin work on its implementation.

The makeshift temple in Ayodhya came up after Hindu militants, in 1992, pulled down the mosque which, they claimed, was built by Mughal emperor Babar on the spot where Lord Ram was born.

Various religious sects have been pushing for the building of a grand temple there.