Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, July 31: Controversy has erupted over the Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yagi Adityanath advising Muslims to admit the “historical mistake” of the Gyanvapi mosque and come out with a “solution,” as the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi called it Yogi’s “judicial overreach” and an attempt to “pressurise Muslims.”
“CM gave a controversial remark. He is the Chief Minister and must follow the law. This is a judicial overreach. He is trying to pressurise Muslims. He must read Swami Vivekanand. He is playing bulldozing politics,” Owaisi said.
Owaisi’s remarks came in response to Yogi’s earlier statement on Gyanvapi mosque that the Muslim society should step forward and offer a solution for a “historical mistake.”
The comments come at a time when Allahabad High Court is hearing a petition by the mosque committee, challenging a lower court’s order for a survey by the Archaeological Survey of India inside the mosque complex. A ruling on the petition is expected on August 3.
But before the court delivered its judgement, the UP chief minister said there would be a dispute if Gyanvapi was called a mosque. “If we call it a mosque, there will be a dispute. I feel whoever has been blessed with sight by God, that person should see. What is a trishul (trident) doing inside a mosque? We did not put it there. There is a jyotirlinga, dev pratimas (idols),” he said.
“The walls are screaming and saying something. Muslim side should accept that calling it a mosque was a historical mistake. The walls of the complex are screaming the truth. I feel the Muslim side must give a proposal that there has been a historical mistake and that mistake should be corrected, the Chief Minister said. The CM added that since the matter was in court, it should look at the whole issue. “If there is physical, historical and archaeological evidence, a decision should be taken on it,” Yogi said.
All India Hindu Mahasabha National President Swami Chakrapani Maharaj responded to Aditynath’s remarks on the Gyanvapi Mosque by saying, “I support Yogi Adityanath ji and this is a very good opportunity to give a message of brotherhood by the Muslim parties, while leaving their claim from the Kashi Vishwanath temple. They ought to return it to the Hindus in the region and the nation as well as convey goodwill.”
A Vishwa Hindu Parishad member said, “The Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister is correct. It is clear that Gyanvapi was a temple. The facts have clarified.”
Reacting to Adityanath’s remarks, Maulana Sufiyan Nizami (Muslim cleric) said, “The matter of Gyanvapi is in the court. Whatever the matter, it should be within the purview of the law and the Constitution. The statements being given on Gyanvapi are not appropriate.”
Imam Sajid Rashidi, another Muslim cleric hitting out at the UP CM, said “This is the outcome when a Monk/Yogi/Sadhu becomes a CM. What is the mistake Yogi is talking about? The Mosque was made in the time of Akbar. Not just Muslims but all the parties are helpless as prime minister Narendra Modi is not even responding to that parade which had happened in Manipur.”
“What to expect from such a PM. It’s better that Muslims should stop expecting shouting on such issues as no result will come out of this. What kind of historical mistake have we committed? I feel this Mosque will be demolished before 2024,” Rashidi added.
Badruddin Ajmal, AIUDF, MP speaking said, “See today, Yogi ji is the leader. Whatever he says will happen. Who are we? Our say does not matter. Yogi ji is the leader of the whole nation, even bigger than PM Modi.”
Responding to Mr Adityanath’s remarks, Owaisi, the Hyderabad MP, said “Chief Minister Yogi (Adityanath) knows that the Muslim side has opposed the ASI survey in Allahabad High Court and the judgment will be delivered in a few days, still he gave such a controversial statement, this is judicial overreach.”
The Gyanvapi mosque hit headlines in 2021 after a group of women approached a court in Varanasi for permission to worship deities in the Gyanvapi complex, located right next to the iconic Kashi Vishwanath temple in Varanasi.
The court then ordered a video survey of the complex during which an object was discovered that a section of people claimed to be a shivling. The mosque management committee, however, said it was part of a fountain in the ‘Wuzukhana’ (pool) to wash hands and feet before prayers. The matter reached the Supreme Court, which sealed off the pool to prevent the situation from escalating.
Earlier this year, Allahabad High Court dismissed the mosque committee’s petition that challenged the maintainability of the request to worship Hindu deities inside the premises. The Varanasi district court ordered an ASI survey at the mosque based on a separate petition by four of the 5 women who said the only way to establish whether the Gyanvapi mosque was built after razing a Hindu temple was through a scientific survey.
The Varanasi District and Sessions Court in September 2022 had rejected the plea of the Anjuman Intezamia Masajid, challenging the maintainability of the civil suits filed by five Hindu women in August 2021 demanding the right to worship Maa Shringar Gauri on the outer wall of the complex.
According to the lawsuit, a Hindu temple at the site, adjacent to Kashi Vishwanath temple, was demolished during Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb’s reign and a mosque was built in its place.
In response to the Hindu side’s appeal, a video inspection showed that a Shivling had been discovered inside a wazukhana, or reservoir on the mosque complex. The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), following a court order from Varanasi, started a scientific assessment of the mosque complex on July 24 amid the controversy surrounding the concerns. The survey, however, was stopped till the Allahabad High Court judgement on the issue.
