Clarion India

PRAYAGRAJ – After Bhoomipujan for a Ram temple on the ruins of Babri Masjid last month, Hindutva brigades are repeating their claims over Kashi and Mathura mosques. Soon after August 5 event which was graced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, various Sangh Parivar outfits including a Karnataka minister declared that now they will launch a campaign to capture the said mosques.

 Akhil Bhartiya Akhara Parishad (ABAP), an apex body of saints and seers, has announced that it would launch a campaign to ‘free’ the Kashi Vishwanath temple in Varanasi and the Krishna Janmabhoomi in Mathura.

According to IANS, a formal resolution to this effect was passed on Monday at a meeting of the Akhara Parishad in Prayagraj. It was decided that efforts should be first made to resolve these issues through dialogue and if that fails, the saints will seek legal redressal.

The Akhara Parishad has also sought the cooperation of the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) and the Rashtriya Swayamevak Sangh (RSS) in this campaign.

This is the second attempt of the Akhara Parishad to rake up the issue. Last month, IANS quoted its head Narendra Giri as telling “parties concerned” (read Muslims) to hand over the Gyanvapi mosque in Varanasi and the Idgah in Mathura.

This was followed by some other outfits close to the RSS making similar statements. Karnataka Minister K.S. Eshwarappa drew rebuke from the Congress and others when he said that “if not today, tomorrow, Mathura and Kashi temples will be liberated and grand temples would be built there.”