Gyanvapi Mosque and Advocate Vishnu Shankar Jain
By Manish Anand
New Delhi, January 25: The leaked findings of the survey on Gyanvapi Mosque have given archeological basis to the claims that there existed a temple at the site of the current structure adjacent to the Kashi Vishwanath Temple complex. The excerpts from the report of the Archeological Survey of India (ASI) are trending on the social media platforms, giving graphic details that certain walls of the Gyanvapi are made in the pre-medieval temple architecture.
The leaked findings have claimed that the back wall of the mosque is built on the Nagar style of temple architecture. Also, the leaked findings of the report also assert that there are engravings of ‘trishul’ and the images of Ganesh and other gods on the walls of the existing structure. Also, the finding states that the existing mosque was built about 500 years ago but there existed a temple which dated back to thousands of years.
Coming close on the heels of the consecration of the idol of Ram Lalla at Ayodhya, the purported claims made in the Gyanvapi survey have the potential to give a fresh wave of Hindutva politics in the Hindi heartland. The activists are already pleading before a civil court in Varanasi for their rights to worship at the Gyanvapi Mosque, arguing that there exists a Shivalinga.
It may be recalled that the Ramjanmabhoomi movement had also gained a massive traction after the archeological findings had asserted that there existed a temple before it was replaced by a mosque with evidences tumbling out from the diggings carried out at the site. Similar exercise appears to have been done at the Gyanvapi Mosque site.
Even while the Rashtriya Swayam Sewak Sangh (RSS) supremo Mohan Bhagwat had scoffed at the people “looking for Shivlinga in mosques”, the wave of the Hindutva to stake claim on the Gyanvapi Mosque may not subside and gain more strength in the coming months. It may be recalled that the Vishwa Hindu Parishad which had spearheaded the movement for the Ram Temple at Ayodhya had also been raising claims on the Gyanvapi Mosque and Mathura where there is a mosque alongside the Krishna Janmabhoomi Temple.
The report which runs into 839 pages has claimed that traces of the ruins of a temple have been found at the Gyanvapi Mosque site along with the broken pieces of the idols of Hanuman and Ganesh. It has also asserted that there are engraving in the walls also which date back to the rimes of Aurangzeb under whose reigns several temples were allegedly demolished as per a section of activists.
While the ASI report may strengthen the claims of the Hindu activists for their rights to worship at the Granvapi Mosque, it may also unveil a long legal battle which may once again land up at the doorsteps of the Supreme Court.
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