A lawsuit started by a group of Hindu women has become latest battlefield in India between Hindu and Muslim groups over access To historically contested religious sites after large Muslim prayer gatherings were limited on Monday in Historic Gianfapi Mosque since the survey team found Archaeology of Hindu god Shiva and other Hindu symbols are there.
Five Hindu women with the support of the influential Hindu hardliner group Linked to Prime Minister Narendra Modi partyThey said they were determined to secure the legal right for Hindus pray daily to the deity of A goddess and monuments they say is inside a prominent mosque in Varanasi.
Varanasi one of Hinduism’s holiest city, and it is also Where is the Gianfapi Mosque – A common A phenomenon across India after the Mughal conquest of The region During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
Differences between religious sects over Such sites broke out up since independence in 1947, but they became more common in Last few years. Muslims make up about 13% of India 1.35 billion people.
Hindu groups have submitted several cases to local courts over Disputed sites in slash of India in The last a few weeks. Some Muslims see this as part of trying to marginalize them with tacit blessing of Modi’s ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party.
The BJP denies stoking religious tensions and says It party that promotes progress for All Indians.
In Varanasi, a ancient city on The spreading Ganges with in thousands of temples one of Hindu petitioners are Mango Vyas, who runs a beauty salon.
She and four of her friends approached the court last year To declare the Gianfabe Mosque “illegal structure built By the Islamic rulers after the demolition of parts of temple in The seventeenth century “.
A pre-existing legal order allowed hundreds of Hindu women To symbolically worship the goddess Srinagar Gauri once a year from the doorstep of The mosque.
But last year Some Muslims said despair men He insulted them as they stood near the mosque to pray, which is a charge of the cleric of The mosque refused.
Everyone, even Muslims in Varanasi, you realize that the temple stood in front of the mosque and now because of that of Our court case has…video clips show “Remnants of Hindus are scattered inside,” said Vyas, 46.
Historical revisionism
The judge who listens to plea This month allowed for a survey of mosque to verify those allegations. Reuters reviewed the report prepared by the survey team this week.
Hindu religious idols, relics of God was Shiva and symbols found Inside the water tank and basement of Gianvapi Mosque”.
Muslims associated with the Gianfapi Mosque said the court-appointed surveyors erred in the fact that the source was in The water tank was like a Hindu idol and the decorations were fixed flowers in Persian design.
The Supreme Court allowed the survey to be evidence and for Actions to continue.
“We will legally free our goddess from its clutches of Sohan Lal said, husband of one of the five women Petitioners and a senior member of The Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP), World Hindu Council.
Three decades ago, it was VHP that succeeded in get temple built On site of 16 Disputed Century Mosque in City of Ayodhya after it was demolished by Hindus crowds who He said it was built Where Hindu Lord Ram was born.
the incident in 1992 led to religious riots that killed nearly 2,000 people peoplemostly Muslims, crossed India and helped propel the BJP to prominence.
senior leaders of The BJP and some nationalist historians believe that Muslim leaders during the 200-year rule destroyed Notable Hindu temples build Mosques or shrines as part of expansive strategy.
a senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader in new delhi, who wire on the condition of Anonymity because it is so in The court said it was time to restore Hindu heritage and that challenge It was to do so without provoking religious violence.
“age of Historical revisionism has begun.”
Asaad al-Din al-Owaisi, the leader of regional muslim party And a federal lawmaker, said the target of The controversy over the Gianfapi Mosque is ‘creating a landscape of Hate and enmity in Country.
“The government always digging up The past To divert everyone from related issues like price rise, unemployment and poor infrastructure.”
Some scholars of Islam and secular Hindus want Hot Modi, and his constituency in Varanasi, to urge litigants to withdraw legal cases over Property of religious sites in Varanasi and other places.
Modi has to stand up up And they say “paste is out of date”, but that would hurt the devout Hindu vote Direndra Sharma, a politician said science professor in Varanasi.
Modi office Did not immediately respond to the request for comment.
