Lacking documentary proof over the ownership of the land where the Gyanvapi mosque stands today, the Hindu litigants have taken the route of seeking a detailed survey of the mosque to find whether there was a temple beneath the mosque. The basic idea is to create public opinion in their favour, bring pressure on the judiciary and overwhelm the Muslim defendants in the case on the same pattern as adopted in the case of the Babri Masjid dispute. Perhaps, they feel that they can win the Gyanvapi case as well on the basis of “aastha” (religious belief).
MNS Qadri & Syed Khalique Ahmed
VARANASI & NEW DELHI—The Hindu right wingers have flooded the Varanasi court with petitions, seeking survey of the Mughal-era mosque to find whether a temple existed at the very site where the mosque stands now.
The ultimate objective of the legal exercise is to convert the mosque into a temple as some of the women litigants have, in their petitions, demanded their right to pray in the mosque to which they describe as a “temple”.
The mosque lies adjacent to the Kashi Vishwanath temple. A common wall on the southern side of the mosque divides the temple from the mosque.
Five-time regular prayers, including Friday afternoon congregational prayers are regularly held in the mosque. Though there are no Muslim houses in immediate vicinity of the mosque, there is a huge Muslim population in Dal Mandi, just 200 metres away. It is the residents of Dal Mandi who use the Gyanvapi mosque for regular prayers.
The Hindu right wingers claim that the mosque was built during the Mughal rule at the very site of the Kashi Vishwanath temple demolished by Aurangzeb. However, there is no authentic information when the temple was demolished and when the mosque was allegedly built over it. There is no historical proof regarding the allegations.
The right wingers claim that the Kashi Vishwanath temple was rebuilt in 1780 by Maratha ruler Maharani Ahilyabai of Indore.
If the Gyanvapi Masjid was built on the site of the Vishwanath temple, Maharani Ahilyabai could have easily demolished the mosque and rebuilt the temple on its original site because the Mughal rule had become so much weakened by then. The Mughal or the Muslim rulers were not in a position to fight. Was Maharani Ahilyabai less religious than the present-day right-wingers? There are no answers to these question available either in history or in government records.
However, Syed Mohammed Yasin of the Gyanvapi Masjid Anjuman Intezamian Committee says that both – the Vishwanath temple and the Gyanvapi Masjid – were built by Akbar in 1585 under his Deen-e-Ilahi project. He says that this is the dominant view of the people in Varanasi. But there is no documentary proof about it. People in Varanasi also say that Aurangzeb, who did not agree with Akbar’s Deen-e-Ilahi, demolished the temple adjoining the mosque. However, Yasin disagrees that the mosque was built over the same place where the temple stood. He also says that the management committee of the mosque got the well inside the mosque cleaned in 2010 but did not find a ‘Shivling’ or any Hindu religious symbol inside the well as being claimed by the Hindu litigants now. He rejects the theory of existence of a Shivling inside the ‘wuzukhana’ and well of the mosque.
Revenue records show presence of Gyanvapi mosque since 1883
He says that the Gyanvapi Jama Masjid found mention for the first time in government revenue records in 1883-84 though the mosque may have been built in 1585. According to him, a case was filed in a Varanasi court in 1936 challenging the existence of the Gyanvapi mosque but the court in 1937 upheld the mosque’s existence.
‘It is a mosque from top to the ground’: ruled Allahabad HC during the fag end of the British rule
The Varanasi court’s order was then challenged in the Allahabad High Court for the “North-Western Provinces”. The High Court upheld the Varanasi court’s order, saying it is a mosque from top to the ground.
Namaz performed in Gyanvapi even during Covid-19 pandemic
Yasin also claims to have the proof that namaz was performed in the mosque from 1669. It was not discontinued even during Covid-19 pandemic.
But the Hindu right-wingers campaign to make claim for the mosque on the pattern of what they did with the Babri Masjid of Ayodhya has created nationwide tension. While the official revenue record uphold the presence of Gyanvapi Jama Masjid, there is nothing in the Varanasi city revenue record to prove that the Masjid was built on the site of the temple that is alleged to have been demolished.
Multiple petitions filed to influence public opinion on the pattern of the Babri Masjid issue
So, the basic idea behind flooding the court with a slew of petitions is to influence the public opinion in favour of temple, overwhelm the Muslim side and pressure the judiciary as was done in case of the Babri Masjid. The Supreme Court, in its judgement in November 2019 in Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid case, accepted that the Babri Masjid was not constructed on the site of any temple and yet, the apex court handed over the Babri Masjid site to the party demanding construction of Ram Temple at the very site where Babri Masjid once stood in its full glory. The court, in fact, capitulated to the pressure built on it to decide the matter on “Aastha” (religious belief) and not on documentary evidence.
The same trick is being played now in case of the Gyanvapi Masjid as well. Only the time will tell if the right-wingers will succeed in this case or not.
Supporters of right-wingers have filed as many as eight identical petitions in the Varanasi court. But the legal experts say that the court should not have entertained the petitions because these petitions are in violation of The Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991. The 1991 Act prohibits courts from entertaining petitions questioning the “religious character” of a place as it existed on August 15, 1947.
Delhi-based journalist Betwa Sharma writes in her Article-14.com website that as many as six identical petitions were drafted by a Delhi-based advocate, Hari Shankar Jain. “This is a legal strategy. There will be more coming,” Sharma quoted Adv Jain having told her.
First petition for Gyanvapi survey filed after passing of 1991 Act
The first petition was filed in the court after the Congress government headed by PV Narasimharao passed the 1991 Act providing for maintenance of the religious character of any place of worship as it existed on August 15, 1947. However, it had excluded Babri Masjid from its purview because a legal case was pending in this connection in the court prior to 1947. The Act covered all other religious places in the country that existed on August 15, 1947.
The petitioned filed by the Hindu right-wingers demanded a survey of the Gyanvapi mosque to find if a temple existed at the place where the Gyanvapi mosque stands now. They made the demand for survey because they knew well that their petition would be rejected under the 1991 Act if they demanded the conversion of the mosque into a temple. The petitioners were Harihar Pandey, Somnath Vyas and Prof. Ramrang Sharma, a professor in the Sampoornanand Sanskrit Vishwavidyalaya, Varanasi. Based on the 1991 Act, the mosque management committee moved the Allahabad High Court against the filing of the petition seeking survey of the mosque. The high court in 1993 ordered stay on the Varanasi court proceedings citing the provisions of the 1991 Act.
But the Supreme Court subsequently lifted the stay that resulted in hearing of the Hindu party’s plea in Varanasi court in 2019. And the fresh hearing of the case in Varanasi court after the SC lifted the stay, resulted in issuing of an order for a survey of the Masjid premises by the Archaeological Survey of India.
Among the petitioners in the Varanasi court include editor-in-chief of Sudarshan News, Suresh Chavhanke and four Hindu women from Varanasi.
