By Akhlad Khan for Hindutva Watch
New Delhi India: Keshav Prasad Maurya, a senior leader in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) and Deputy Chief Minister of poll-bound Uttar Pradesh, on Wednesday in a two-line tweet called for the construction of a temple in Mathura at a time when Hindu right-wing groups are demanding the removal of a Mughal-era mosque located adjacent to the Krishna temple in the city.
Mr. Maurya’s tweet comes days ahead of the anniversary of the Babri Masjid demolition. The Mughal-era Babri mosque in Ayodhya was demolished by a Hindu extremist mob of ‘karsevaks’ on December 6, 1992.
Though Mr. Maurya did not spell it out, his tweet in Hindi had an uncanny semblance to the slogan “yeh toh sirf jhanki hain, Kashi Mathura baki hai [This is just a trailer, Varanasi and Mathura are yet to come]” raised by the right-wing groups and BJP leaders following the demolition of the Babri mosque.
“Ayodhya, Kashi bhavya mandir jari hain, Mathura ki tayarri hai [A grand temple is underway in Ayodhya and Varanasi. Preparations are on for Mathura],” Mr. Maurya tweeted in Hindi.
His pinned tweet, which triggered a political storm on social media, carried hashtags of “Jai Shri Ram,” “Jai Shiv Shambhu” and “Jai Radhe Krishna.”
While the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya is under construction after the Supreme Court awarded the land where the Babri Masjid stood till December 1992 to the Hindu parties. Later this month, PM Modi is expected to inaugurate the Kashi Vishwanath Corridor in his Lok Sabha constituency Varanasi.
The Kashi Vishwanath Temple, a major Hindu site dedicated to Lord Shiva, abuts the Gyanvapi mosque. The Allahabad High Court in September put an interim stay on the proceedings in a lower court in the Gyanvapi Mosque-Kashi Vishwanath Temple title dispute including the April order of the lower court which had directed the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to conduct a comprehensive physical survey of the Gyanvapi mosque compound adjacent to the temple. The lower court had in April directed the ASI to find out whether the Gyanvapi mosque was a “superimposition, alteration or addition or there is structural overlapping of any kind, with or over, any other religious structure.”
Recently, at least two Hindu right-wing groups including Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha had threatened to carry out a padyatra (foot march) and install an idol of Lord Krishna inside the Shahi Idgah Mosque in Mathura on December 6.
Following this, the Mathura administration beefed up security and stated that it had imposed prohibitory orders under Section 144 of Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) and said no such permission had been or would be granted. SSP Mathura Gaurav Grover said strict action would be taken against any person or outfit trying to incite religious feelings, gather crowds, or spread lawlessness in person or on social media.
Last year, a civil court in Mathura dismissed a suit seeking the removal of the Shahi Idgah Masjid adjacent to the Katra Keshav Dev Temple in Mathura, observing that if each and every devotee of Lord Krishna was allowed to institute such suits, it would jeopardize the judicial and social system of the country. Earlier this year, another local court issued notices to the Shahi Idgah Masjid management committee and others, seeking their stand on a fresh plea for the removal of the mosque from near the ‘birthplace’ of Lord Krishna in the Katra Keshav Dev temple complex.
Replying to the Keshav Prasad’s Maurya Statement, Muslim political leader and Samajwadi MP from Sambhal Dr. Shafiqur Rehman Barq said “The temple which has been built by demolishing the Babri Masjid has also happened against the law and justice. Muslims are being forcibly suppressed and crushed in India. Now they are talking about Mathura.”
“Muslims will also be forced to sit on dharna like farmers. What is the dispute in Mathura? Just as they were saying that there is a temple, in the same way they are telling that too. There is no particular controversy, but coercion is being done. We are being tortured,” he added.
Earlier, BJP MLA Raja Singh had called for the construction of grand temples of Lord Krishna in Mathura and Lord Shiva in Kashi. In an apparent reference to the mosque in Mathura, the saffron party lawmaker said that the small things will be demolished and a temple of Krishna will be built in Mathura under the leadership of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.
Shahi Eidgah Mathura – The Matter
December 6 marks the demolition of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya, the site of a temple-mosque dispute, in 1992. The Mahasabha’s threat to perform the ritual inside the Shahi Idgah comes at a time when the local courts are hearing a series of petitions seeking the “removal” of the 17th-century mosque.
An application had been moved before a Mathura Court by Sri Krishna Janmabhumi Mukti Aandolan Samiti offering the Muslim parties (management committee of the Mosque) a larger piece of land if they agree to demolish the shrine of the Shahi Idgah Masjid near the Krishna Janmabhumi.
The application was filed through advocate Mahendra Pratap Singh before the Civil Judge, Senior Division, Mathura.
The plea alleged that the masjid was built by Mughal emperor Aurangzeb with the stones of the temple, after demolishing the temple.
“There are many stones in which Hindu scriptures are visible and the Mosque was built after destroying the temple on the orders of Aurangzeb.”
The temple organization has offered to the Muslim parties to settle the dispute by giving them a larger piece of land, which is larger than the one on which the masjid currently stands if they are willing to demolish the mosque.
The application placed reliance on the November 2019 Ram Janmabhoomi judgment of the Supreme Court in which the top court had ruled in favor of the Hindu parties and asked the government to provide alternative land to the Muslims for a mosque.
The applicant prayed that the Court should take on record the application and make it a part of the suit which was earlier filed last year for the removal of the mosque.
Last year, a suit was filed on September 25, 2020, before the Civil Judge, Senior Division at Mathura on behalf of child deity Bhagwan Shri Krishna Virajman.
The suit, filed through the next friend of the deity advocate Ranjana Agnihotri and six other plaintiffs, prayed for the removal of the Shahi Idgah Masjid adjacent to the Shri Krishna Temple Complex at Mathura.
The suit alleged that the Committee of Management of Trust Masjid Idgah without any authority of law and in utter violation of decree of a court decree, with the help of some Muslims put up a superstructure and encroached upon the land of Katra Keshav Dev belonging to Shree Krishna Janmasthan Trust and the deity.
The civil court dismissed the suit in September 2020 after which an appeal was filed against the same before the District Court which was admitted by the District Judge in Mathura in October 2020.
In February 2021, A Mathura court issued notices to the Shahi Idgah Masjid management committee and others, seeking their stands on a fresh plea for the removal of the 17th-century mosque from near the birthplace of Lord Krishna in the Katra Keshav Dev temple complex here.
Additional District and Sessions Judge Dev Kant Shukla issued notices after admitting the plea, ruling that the suit is maintainable and hence admissible for detailed hearing, District Government Counsel (Civil) Sanjai Gaur said.
After admitting the civil suit, the court also issued notices to three other respondents — the president of Sunni Waqf Board, Lucknow and the managing trustees of Sri Krishna Janmabhumi Trust Katra Keshav Dev temple and Sri Krishna Seva Sansthan, Katra Keshav Dev temple.
The court sought the stands of four respondents to the new plea. The fresh plea was filed by priest Pawan Kumar Shastri of the old Keshav Dev temple on behalf of the temple’s deity, Thakur Keshav Dev Ji Maharaj Virajman.
Sevayat Shastri has made three demands in his plea; firstly, claiming the right to manage the entire 13.37 acres land of the Katra Keshav Dev temple complex, including the land on which the Shahi Idgah mosque stands. He sought the right to manage the entire temple complex claiming that his ancestors have been serving as priests of the deity for decades and he has inherited the right from them as the temple’s “real sevayat” (priest).
“After several rounds of litigation, in which Muslims had claimed ownership for parts of the plot, a settlement was reached in 1968. It was decreed by the court in 1974. The compromise divided the land and asked the Seva Sangh and the management of the Shahi Masjid Idgah to stay away from each other’s sections”.
Shastri has also demanded the annulment of a 1967 ruling of Mathura court which has ratified a land deal between the Shri Krishna Janmasthan Seva Sansthan and Shahi Idgah Management Committee, allowing the existence of the mosque near the temple. In his third plea, Shastri has demanded a court direction to the Shahi Masjid Idgah’s management committee and Lucknow’s Sunni Waqf Board’s president to remove the mosque from its current location.
Howling the claim made in the Ayodhya dispute that the Ram janmasthan (Birthplace of Ram) is holy, the suit in the Mathura case contends that the believed Krishna janmasthan (Birthplace of Krishna) has a sacred place in the Hindu tradition and has been made one of the parties. The area of the janmasthan in Mathura is called Katra Keshav Dev. It allegedly covers 13.37 acres, according to the plaint. It wants the mosque, which stands next to the Krishna Janmasthan temple, to be removed.
The suit is strangely similar to the narrative used by Hindutva supporters to claim the site of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya. In that case, they alleged that the mosque had been built on the same spot where tlod Ram had been born after the Mughals demolished a temple that had stood there. Even the evidence that is being submitted to the court in the Mathura suit has eerily taken a line similar to the Ayodhya case.
The Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha (ABHM) on Wednesday called off its proposed programme for the installation and ‘jalabhishek’ (offering of water as ritual) of lord Krishna’s idol at the Eidgah adjoining Sri Krishna “Janmabhoomi” in Mathura on December 6.
ABHM national president Rajyashree Chaudhri announced the ‘cancellation’ of the proposed event through a video message on social media, citing concerns raised by the Mathura district administration, sensitivity of the issue and safety of ABHM leaders.
“We had announced to conduct the ‘jalabhishek’ at real the ‘janmasthan’ (birthplace), which is within the Eidgah premises adjoining the Sri Krishna Janmabhoomi in Mathura on December 6. However, a very concerned district administration denied us permission because of security reasons and sensitivity of the issue and thus we decided to call off the event,” stated Chaudhri on Wednesday.
The district administration had warned against any such event at Sri Krishna Janmabhoomi or adjoining premises of Eidgah on December 6.
On Tuesday, the Mathura administration also denied permission to the Sri Krishna Janmabhoomi Mukti Dal for organizing a public meeting and ‘Sankalp yatra’ on December 6 in view of apprehensions over threat to communal harmony and violation of Covid-19 protocols.