‘The Muslim side should admit ‘historic mistake’ and ‘propose a solution’, Uttar Pradesh chief minister said in an interview even as Allahabad High Court is hearing a petition by the mosque committee, challenging a lower court’s order for a survey
Team Clarion
NEW DELHI — All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) leader and member of Parliament, Asaduddin Owaisi, has hit out at Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath over the latter’s ‘controversial’ comment — his first in public — on the Gyanvapi mosque survey case. He slammed Adityanath calling his remark as ‘judicial overreach’.
The chief minister’s remarks that the walls of the mosque at Gyanvapi were ‘screaming,’ came less than 72 hours before the Allahabad High Court rules on allowing the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to establish if the mosque was, in fact, built over the remains of a temple.
“CM Yogi knows that the Muslim side has opposed the ASI survey in Allahabad High Court and the judgement will be given in a few days, still he gave such a controversial statement, this is judicial overreach,” Owaisi, told news agency ANI.
In an interview with ANI, broadcast on Monday, Adityanath said that the Muslim society should come forward to admit that “a historic mistake” had happened and propose a “solution”.
Adityanath, also the head priest of the Gorakhnath Mutt in Gorakhpur, said the answer was clear to anyone “who has got the vision of god”. “Agar hum usko masjid kahenge to phir vivaad hoga… Trishul masjid ke andar kya kar raha hai, humne to nahi rakha na? Jyotirling hai, dev pratimayen hain, poori diwaren chilla-chilla kay kya keh rahi hain (If we call it a mosque, that will create a dispute. What is a trishul doing inside the mosque? Did we put it there? There is a jyotirling, idols of deities, every part of the structure screams this),” he was quoted by the media as saying.
The Allahabad High Court is hearing a petition by the mosque committee, challenging a lower court’s order for a survey by the ASI inside the mosque complex. A ruling on the petition is expected on August 3.
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 is through a scientific survey.
