AMID A series of temple-mosque disputes, with several suits pending before various courts, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said on Friday that any disputed structure should not be called a mosque.
“Kisi bhi vivadit dhaanche ko masjid nahi bolna chahiye. Hum jis din masjid bolna bandh kar denge, uss din log jaana bhi bandh kar denge. Waise bhi yeh Islam ke sidhhanto ke khilaaf hai ki kisi ki bhi aastha ko thais pahuncha kar wahan masjid-numa dhaancha khada kar diya ho, aise sthaan par kisi prakaar ki hone waali ibaadat Khuda ko bhi manzoor nahi hoti hai. Islam me upasana ke liye structure ki zaroorat nahi hai, jab ki yeh Sanatan Dharma me hai,” he said.
(“Any disputed structure should not be called a mosque. The day we stop calling it a mosque, people will stop going there. Hurting anyone’s faith by constructing a mosque-like structure does not align with Islamic principles, worship at such sites is not acceptable to God too. Islam does not mandate the construction of a structure for worship, but Sanatan Dharma does.”)
Adityanath was speaking at an event hosted by Aaj Tak in Mahakumbh Nagar, Prayagraj. His remarks come at a time when the Supreme Court has barred civil courts across the country from registering fresh suits challenging the ownership and title of any place of worship, and from ordering surveys of disputed religious places until further orders. Petititons relating to the Places of Worship Act are also before the Supreme Court.
“Sanatanis go to temples for worship, (this is not so) for Islamic practices. Therefore, it is unnecessary and counter-productive to insist on calling any structure a mosque. This is a time to embrace the vision of a new India and move forward with progressive thinking. We must focus on building unity and harmony instead of clinging to disputes of the past,” he said.
Responding to claims of the Maha Kumbh being held on Waqf Board land, Adityanath said the event was being held at the site in Prayagraj for thousands of years now. “If someone now calls this land Waqf Board property, we must ask whether it belongs to the Waqf Board or land mafia,” he said, adding that such “malicious tendencies” need to be curbed.
This story was originally published in indianexpress.com. Read the full story here.
