ISLAMABAD: The controversy over religious heritage sites has again flared up in India, with one of the most powerful Hindu organizations accusing a number of mosques of being constructed on the remains of destroyed Hindu temples. The remarks are made days after the opening of a magnificent temple in Ayodhya, which was built on the ruins of a 16th-century mosque demolished by Hindu extremists in 1992.
The ideological font of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), seems to have taken an even more extreme position after the Ram Mandir was consecrated on Monday, a milestone of Hindu nationalists. Many Hindus believe that Lord Ram was born on the site.
Indresh Kumar, a senior RSS leader, told media on Friday that the legitimacy of various mosques, such as the Gyanvapi mosque in Varanasi, and others in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, should be questioned, and whether they can be called mosques at all.
He said the people of India and the world have to think over whether these are mosques or not. A person has to decide whether to be on the side of the truth or of falsehood.
The statement is in the wake of disclosures by a Hindu petitioner lawyer, who referred to the findings of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) that the Gyanvapi mosque in Varanasi, the parliamentary constituency of Modi, was constructed on the ruins of a Hindu temple dating back to the 17th century. The ASI has failed to comment on the matter.
Kumar maintained that RSS is not leading an anti-Islam movement. This is not an anti-mosque and anti-Muslim campaign. This is a movement of seeking the truth and the world ought to embrace this,” he added. He also demanded peaceful talks and due process of the law.
The claims have, however, been denied by Muslim groups who are taking them to court. Zufar Ahmad Faruqi, the chairman of the Sunni Central Waqf Board in Uttar Pradesh, said that he believed in the court of law. We are sure that the judiciary will play fair. We do not want to live in peace and destroy our heritage sites,” he said. It is not a political move on our part; we are doing it by law.
The opening of the Ayodhya temple is the fulfilment of a promise the BJP had made decades ago, and it is being opened only a few months before the general elections in May, where Modi is likely to get another term. There has been growing focus on Hindu identity and heritage under his leadership.
The Babri Masjid in Ayodhya was demolished in 1992, which sparked a large-scale communal violence that killed at least 2,000 people, mostly Muslims. Hindu organizations have always argued that Muslim Mughal emperors destroyed Hindu places to construct mosques and monuments.
But the Places of Worship Act, 1991, of India, prevents the change of religious character of any place of worship as existed in 1947, except the Ayodhya dispute. The law is being challenged in the Supreme Court, and in a recent case the court stayed a proposed archaeological survey of another historical mosque in Uttar Pradesh.
Kumar, the head of the RSS Muslim outreach wing, added that according to the Islamic law, the mosques should be constructed on land that is not in dispute, either through donation or legal acquisition. His remarks point out the intricacies of current controversies over the religious heritage and identity of India.
