- Hindu prayers resume in mosque
- Court permits worship; controversy ensues
- Mosque demolition raises tensions
Hindu devotees have resumed their prayers within a 17th-century mosque in Varanasi, India, following a court order that authorized their presence at the disputed site.
The Gyanvapi Mosque, a target of right-wing Hindu groups backed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), is located in Modi’s parliamentary constituency in Uttar Pradesh, a BJP-controlled state.
A local court ordered authorities to make arrangements for Hindu worshippers to pray in the mosque’s basement, giving them one week to comply. Following this, Hindu clerics’ family members began praying there, as reported by Indian media.
The mosque, built during the Mughal Empire, is said by Hindus to have been constructed over a Shiva temple, a claim seemingly supported by the Archaeological Survey of India’s recent examination.
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Meanwhile, a mosque committee member said they demolished a centuries-old mosque in New Delhi without advance notification. The demolition, part of a drive to remove “illegal” structures, has raised concerns among India’s Muslim community, which fears for its future amid rising Hindu supremacist demands under Modi’s governance.
The BJP’s ideological mentor, RSS, questions the legitimacy of the Gyanvapi Mosque and others as mosques, urging national and international opinion to side with what they call the truth.
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