A day after the All India Muslim Personal Law Board rejected his proposals for resolving the Ayodhya dispute, Kanchi Shankaracharya Jayendra Saraswati on Monday said," "I have completed my task."

"I have no further plans but my doors shall always remain open if the Muslims want to have discussions on the issue," the pontiff told reporters in Kancheepuram, but denied having any new proposal up his sleeve.

He urged Muslims not to make Ayodhya a 'prestige issue'.

The seer said the demolition of the disputed structure at Ayodhya was 'unfortunate' but now it would not be appropriate to remove the idol of Lord Ram as it could lead to social unrest.

He dismissed the All India Muslim Personal Law Board's charge that he had made 'veiled threats' to Muslims to give up the mosques in Kashi and Mathura.

The seer said he got involved in the process only for the sake of communal harmony and to ensure that the poor did not suffer.

Appealing to them to 'donate' the disputed area to the majority community, the Kanchi shankaracharya assured that he would not be involved in the Kashi and Mathura issues.

The shankaracharya insisted Ayodhya was the birth place of Lord Ram and that was the basis for his suggestion that the disputed land be donated to Hindus.

"Muslims should show their dedication by donating the land and not fix a price for it. They must understand that the mosque is the best place to offer prayers, not a place which was acquired after a lot of fighting," he said.

"After Independence, we had made great sacrifices and now for a small issue like Ayodhya, we should not fight with each other," he said.

He said a court solution would not be possible as it might take a long time.

Denying that his year-long efforts had gone waste (following the rejection of his proposals), the seer said, "We have taken only a small and progressive step, definitely not a jump."

He denied the Dwarka seer's suggestion that all the shankaracharyas in the country had not been taken into confidence on the issue.

PTI