First be careful then Ajmer… Are Hindu organizations forgetting what Mohan Bhagwat said?

New Delhi : In June 2022, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat had said: ‘One should not raise a new issue every day. Why escalate fights? …Why find Shivlinga in every mosque?” Bhagwat was addressing the concluding session of the training camp for RSS functionaries in Nagpur and this was his/her first comment on the Gyanvapi controversy.

A section of the Hindu right ignored

As for the messages, it couldn’t be more straightforward. But two and a half years later, a section of the Hindu right has completely ignored it. Earlier this week, violence broke out in Sambhal in western UP after a trial court allowed a survey to find out whether the Shahi Idgah mosque was built on the ruins of a temple dedicated to Lord Kalki. Four people died in the violence.

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New claim regarding Ajmer Dargah

And now, a new claim has emerged, claiming that the world famous Ajmer Dargah is the Sankat Mochan Mahadev Temple. On November 27, a local court in Ajmer issued notice to the Dargah Committee, the Union Ministry of Minority Welfare and the Archaeological Survey of India on a petition seeking declaration of the temple.

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Union Minister Giriraj Singh on Thursday said Hindus have the right to approach courts and survey mosques as it is true that many of them were built on the ruins of temples demolished by Mughal invaders. But is this what the law says?

Places of Worship Act, 1991

In 1991, when the Babri Masjid controversy was at its peak, the PV Narasimha Rao-led Congress government had introduced the Places of Worship Act to prevent future clashes over disputes related to religious sites. The Act states that the religious character of any place, as it existed on August 15, 1947, must be preserved.

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This has since been challenged and the matter is in the Supreme Court. The Center has not yet informed the Supreme Court about its position on the issue.

decision on ayodhya

The 2019 Supreme Court judgment on Ayodhya upheld the Places of Worship Act. It said the Act is designed to protect the secular nature of Indian politics. It also cited a 1994 Supreme Court judgment, which said the intention behind the Act was to ensure that ‘history and its mistakes will not be used as a means to suppress the present and the future.’

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The 2019 ruling also said that courts cannot consider claims arising from the Mughal rulers’ actions against Hindu places of worship. It said the law is not the right instrument to seek recourse against the actions of previous rulers.

Supreme Court’s enlightening decision

But the Supreme Court in 2023 allowed scientific surveys at the Gyanvapi Mosque complex, and this has encouraged groups to lay claim to other disputed worship sites. Hearing the Gyanvapi case, Justice DY Chandrachud said in May 2022 that the Places of Worship Act does not prevent someone from ascertaining the religious character of a structure on August 15, 1947.

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With these comments, the Supreme Court bench refused to stay the trial. Also sent the mosque committee back to the trial court. Based on these observations, the trial court allowed the ASI survey, as did the Allahabad High Court later. And, finally, on August 4, 2023, the Supreme Court upheld the Allahabad High Court’s approval of an ASI survey to determine whether the 17th-century mosque was built over a temple.

The ASI was instructed to use non-invasive methods. Hindu parties claimed that the mosque replaced a temple destroyed by Mughal emperor Aurangzeb, while Muslim parties argued that the survey violated the Places of Worship Act.

Major temple-mosque dispute

• Sambhal Shahi Jama Masjid – Harihar Temple, UP
• Kashi Vishwanath Temple – Gyanvapi Masjid, UP
• Bhojshala – Kamal-Maula Masjid, Madhya Pradesh
• Krishna Janmabhoomi, Mathura, Uttar Pradesh

Debate continues on survey order of courts

Opinion is now divided on whether courts should allow such surveys. While the Hindu right wing is hesitant to express their opinions on record (not everyone is as vocal as Giriraj Singh) because they fear they will be seen defying the RSS chief. Muslim intellectuals who spoke to our associate newspaper TOI clearly said that this will only increase religious tension without solving any problem.

Former Delhi Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung said that the genie has come out of the bottle and it is not easy to put it back in the bottle. he/she said, I think Justice Chandrachud should have nipped this issue in the bud when it was brought before him/her. My concern is not just about the incident that happened in Sambhal. I am more worried about what India may see in the next few months if this is not stopped immediately.

Jang said any person can approach a lower court claiming to have evidence of a temple beneath the mosque and the court can allow survey of the mosque. Due to this, different parts of the country may have to face a Sambhal-like situation.

How long will we remain stuck in the past

Zafar Sareshwala, former chancellor of Maulana Azad National Urdu University, Hyderabad, said that when RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat said that we should not find Shivalinga under every mosque, many of us saw it as a new beginning. But the Sambhal incident shows that some people are bent on scratching old wounds.

Sareshwala said that for how long will we remain stuck in the past?… The country cannot afford to create social disharmony by searching for the ruins of temples under mosques and mausoleums. Let us move forward and build a new nation, a new India, which PM Modi often talks about.

No change in Sangh’s stance

While most people in the RSS and BJP were not available for comment on the issue or preferred to remain silent, a senior Sangh source admitted that ‘the Sangh’s stand was made clear by RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat at a public function in June 2022. The stance is the same and there has been no change in it in the last two years.

Signaling that the RSS does not support an endless Hindu-Muslim dispute over places of worship. The source also said that we do not interfere in the activities of any political party or religious group.