Karnataka: Hindutva activists in Karnataka have approached the Mandya district administration in Karnataka, seeking permission for Hindus to offer Pooja at a mosque, which they claimed stands over the ruins of a Hanuman temple.
Built around 1782 during the rule of Tipu Sultan, Jamia Masjid in Srirangapatna, about 120km from Bengaluru, is a heritage site being maintained by Archaeological Survey of India (ASI). It also runs a Madrassa.
The Hindu right-wing group named after Narendra Modi Vichar Manch state secretary CT Manjunath, who was part of the delegation, met the Mandya Deputy Commissioner and submitted a memorandum, seeking permission to allow Hindus to offer Pooja at the masjid, Indian Express reported.
“Documentary evidence of Tipu Sultan writing to a ruler in Persia, admitting that there was a Hanuman temple before the mosque was built; along with Hindu inscriptions on the pillars and walls support our stand. We request the administration to allow Hindus to offer prayers at the mosque.”
Former Karnataka minister KS Eshwarappa, who resigned recently over his name cropping up in an FIR after a contractor died by suicide, claimed that even Muslim leaders accept that a temple existed before the mosque took shape.
“Around 36,000 temples were demolished/damaged during the Mughal rule. We will reclaim all the temples in accordance with the Supreme Court’s ruling without creating any trouble,” he said.
Earlier in the day, a court in Varanasi asked the Uttar Pradesh government to immediately seal the place of Gyanvapi mosque where a purported ‘shivling’ has been found.
The court had ordered videographic survey of the Kashi Vishwanath temple-Gyanvapi mosque complex in Varanasi that ended today. The court has also prohibited the entry of any person into the sealed room.
The survey of the premises concluded around noon after three days of inspection in the presence of court-appointed Advocate Commissioners, lawyers from both sides, all concerned parties and officials.
AIMIM Chief Asaduddin Owaisi termed the verdict a “blatant violation” of the Places of Worship Act 1991.
Owaisi said the court’s decision is also a violation of the SC judgment given in the Babri Masjid title dispute. He asserted that he does not want to lose another masjid.
“The order of the court is a blatant violation of the Places of Worship Act 1991. It is a violation of Supreme Court judgment given in the Babri Masjid title dispute,” he said. Owaisi added, “We have lost Babri Masjid, we don’t want to lose another masjid.”
“This is a textbook repeat of December 1949 in Babri Masjid. This order itself changes the religious nature of the masjid. This is a violation of 1991 Act. This was my apprehension and it has come true. Gyanvapi Masjid was & will remain a masjid till judgement day inshallah,” he Tweeted.
Earlier, an advocate of the Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Committee that manages the Gyanvapi Mosque said petitioners’ claim about a ‘Shivling’ is misleading.
“There is only a fountain in the wajookhana in the Gyanvapi mosque. The structure, which the petitioners are claiming to be a Shivling is a fountain. It is a misleading claim,” Hindustan Times quoted advocate Rais Ahmad Ansari as saying.
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