Hindu Sena chief writes to ASI demanding a survey of the mosque built by Emperor Shahjahan in 1644
Behzad Parvez | Clarion India
NEW DELHI – Hindutva forces have now set their eyes on the historic Jama Masjid in the national capital. Vishnu Gupta, national president of the Hindu Sena, on Tuesday wrote to the Director General of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), demanding a survey of Delhi’s Jama Masjid.
The iconic mosque was built by Mughal Emperor Shahjahan in 1644.
Gupta claims that the sixth Mughal emperor and Shahjahan’s son, Aurangzeb, demolished Krishna Temples in Jodhpur and Udaipur and embedded the remains of their idols on the stairs of Jama Masjid. He cited Aurangzeb Nama, also known as Masir-e-Alamgiri, written by Saqi Musta’d Khan, as evidence for his claims.
Gupta’s assertion on Delhi’s Jama Masjid comes close on the heels of the litigation on Jama Masjid in Uttar Pradesh’s Sambhal and Ajmer Sharif Dargah in Rajasthan, the shrine of the revered Sufi saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti. Hindu petitioners have also claimed that the Jama Masjid in Budaun in Uttar Pradesh was constructed atop the ancient Nilkanth Mahadev Temple.
On November 27, a petition was filed in an Ajmer court asking for a survey of the shrine claiming the existence of an ancient temple of Lord Shiva at the site. The Ajmer court accepted the petition, and the next hearing is scheduled for 20 December.
In Sambhal, a court ordered the survey of the Jama Masjid on the same day after a petition was filed on November 19. The administration acted in haste and conducted the survey at odd times and within hours of the court order. However, violence broke out when the survey team again arrived at the mosque a couple of days later with a large crowd in tow raising objectionable and provocative anti-Muslim slogans. Five persons, all Muslims, lost their lives and scores of others sustained injuries in the ensuing violence.
The controversy surrounding the Budaun mosque, also known as the Shamsi Shahi Masjid, has intensified as a local fast-track court hears a claim by Hindu petitioners that it was constructed atop the ancient temple. The claim has been vehemently rejected by the Muslim community.
On Delhi’s Jama Masjid issue, Gupta referred to a passage in Masir-e-Alamgiri that mentions events from Sunday, 24-25 May 1689. According to the text, Khan Jahan Bahadur, a general under Aurangzeb, returned from Jodhpur after destroying temples, looting them, and breaking idols. The biography states that Aurangzeb was pleased with this act and ordered the broken idols to be sent to Delhi on bullock carts.
Gupta said if the survey reports support his claim, then the remnants should be retrieved and reinstated in temples to expose the “historical atrocities committed by Aurangzeb.”
Gupta finds it easy to claim any mosque on the pretext of it being constructed on the remains of a temple given the surcharged atmosphere of the country in the wake of Hindutva onslaught on the integrity of the country.
Ironically such Hindutva figures also find support from the courts who show undue urgency in ordering the survey of the claimed site.
