By Marx Tejaswi
SHIVAMOGGA: While the Bhoomi Poojan was being done for the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya on Wednesday, RDPR Minister and BJP leader K S Eshwarappa made a controversial remark in the city, claiming that masjids were built in Mathura and Kashi after demolishing temples. He also said those masjids will also be destroyed on the lines of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya and that temples will be rebuilt there too.
Eshwarappa was addressing a gathering at a programme organised at the Sita Ramanjaneya temple on Kote Road in the city to celebrate the Bhoomi Poojan of the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya. While expressing his happiness over the reconstruction of the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya, Eshwarappa said that similar things will happen in Mathura and Kashi too.
“Today is the most precious day in the lives of all of us. The people of the nation have a dream. I had been to Mathura and Kashi Vishwanath temples. Two symbols of slavery are still existing in those towns. There are two masjids there. When we visit Mathura, the birthplace of Lord Sri Krishna, to offer our prayers to Lord Krishna, a symbol of slavery disturbs our attention and points out that you are a slave. When we visit Vishwanath temple in Kashi, there also one has a similar experience. Hence, all Hindus across the world have a dream that those symbols of slavery should be removed on the lines of Ayodhya. The masjids in Mathura and Kashi will be destroyed too and temples will be rebuilt,” he said.
Eshwarappa later spoke to reporters and reiterated his controversial claims and remarks. “We can recall that our temples were demolished in Ayodhya, Mathura and Kashi and masjids were built there. We were in joy when the Babri Masjid was destroyed on December 6 in 1992, thinking that a symbol of slavery was demolished. Today, we are building a magnificent temple in Ayodhya. The temples will be built in Mathura and Kashi too,” he said.
This story first appeared in the New Indian Express here.