- Title: PERSONAL: Mosque in Hindu holy land at centre of dispute as India votes
- Date: 18th April 2024
- Summary: VARANASI, UTTAR PRADESH, INDIA (RECENT - APRIL 12, 2024) (REUTERS) PETITIONER AND ADVOCATE FOR BUILDING OF SHIVA TEMPLE IN PLACE OF GYANVAPI MOSQUE, SOHAN LAL ARYA, (CENTRE) ATTENDING PROCESSION MARCH TO GYANVAPI MOSQUE / HINDU ACTIVISTS CHANTING DURING MARCH HINDU ACTIVISTS CHANTING HINDU ACTIVISTS CHANTING, HOLDING BANNER FLAGS BEING WAVED DURING MARCH ONLOOKERS CHEERING
- Embargoed: 2nd May 2024 09:28
- Keywords: Ganga Ganges Gyanvapi Hindu India Muslim Shiva Varanasi activists advocate chant chanting conflict deity dispute election flags god government holy mosque petition petitioner politics prayer religion river slogan voting
- Location: VARANASI, UTTAR PRADESH, INDIA
- City: VARANASI, UTTAR PRADESH, INDIA
- Country: India
- Topics: Asia / Pacific,Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA001K654KZZ
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: At 72 years old, Sohan Lal Arya hobbles along the near three-kilometre (two-mile) procession through the ancient streets of Varanasi under a beating sun.
He is flanked by an entourage of armed police and over 50 Hindu activists, chanting Hindu religious slogans, as they draw closer to their destination: a mosque, right in the heart of Hinduism's holiest city.
For Arya, this is the fight of his life. He's been petitioning the courts for four decades to turn Gyanvapi Mosque-Varanasi's oldest-into a Hindu temple.
"This temple is very important for the Hindu religion, especially because for thousands of years it has been the place of our lord of lords, our beloved God Shiva," Arya said just after he and fellow activists prayed outside the grounds of the Gyanvapi Mosque on Friday (April 12).
Gyanvapi Mosque is now synonymous with rising Hindu-Muslim frictions and Prime Minister Narendra Modi's agenda of Hindu revivalism in the buildup to India's election this year.
Hindu claims on contentious sites have been in the spotlight, with Modi recently opening a temple to Hindu Lord Ram in Ayodhya, built on the site of the 16th century Babri mosque that was destroyed by a Hindu mob in 1992 claiming it was the birthplace of the god-king.
The dispute scarred relations between the communities for decades and the destruction of the mosque sparked nationwide riots that killed 2,000 people, mostly Muslims.
In late January, a court ruled that Hindu priests can pray on part of Gyanvapi, which lies just next door to Varanasi's largest and holiest Hindu temple, Kashi Vishwanath, after an archaeological survey said it was built following the destruction of a temple there.
For Arya, who fondly remembers taking part in the Hindu mob that destroyed Babri, this isn't enough. He wants the entire Gyanvapi mosque raised, and a new temple devoted to Shiva built on its grounds.
Arya, who claims to have no enmity towards Muslims, hopes another win for Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the upcoming national election is going to help further his case for the construction of a "majestic temple" in place of the mosque.
"We have razed the Babri structure (mosque) and I still have a brick from there with me…. So, all we want is that our temple should be returned to us. We request them that God gives them the good sense - our temple was there, which was destroyed by Islam, by the Mughals," said Arya, just after finishing a morning prayer at the banks of the Ganges with his wife.
Muslim advocates say their minority rights and places of worship, plus India's secular society, are under threat, and that Gyanvapi is just one of many mosques that Hindu nationalists want demolished.
One of Gyanvapi Mosque's most fervent advocates and sworn protectors is 78-year-old Syed Mohammad Yaseen. A member of the local Muslim committee that oversees Varanasi's mosques, Yaseen has also spent four decades fighting, filing court appeals to protect Gyanvapi from demolition.
"What happened then (1992 destruction of Ayodhya mosque) was really bad. Everything was wrong. There were riots in so many places. But what they are doing now is that they are coming through (the) court," said 78-year-old Yaseen, sitting beside a cabinet full of court cases related to Gyanvapi.
Yaseen, who still attends Friday prayers at Gyanvapi despite a hip injury, feels that another Modi win could certainly make things more difficult. But he has vowed to keep fighting to the bitter end.
"We have our backs to the wall. You know what happens when you're pushed up against the wall - either you die or you stand up. After that there won't be any alternative left but to stand up," said Yaseen.
Muslim advocates accuse Modi's Hindu nationalist party of discriminating against them and imposing laws interfering with their faith. Modi denies this but the situation has led to sporadic violence between the two communities. About 14% of the population is Muslim.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, a Hindu monk from Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), has told the state assembly that now that the Ayodhya temple has been inaugurated, the deities of the other two sites, Shiva of Varanasi and Krishna of Mathura, 'were not going to wait' - an obvious reference to Gyanvapi.
The world's largest democracy is slated to vote in the upcoming general election that starts on April 19 and will be held in seven stages until June 1, with the results expected on June 4.
Modi is widely tipped to stay in power on the back of his 10-year record, which includes strong economic growth, infrastructure projects, welfare handouts and aggressive Hindu nationalism.
(Production: Joseph Campbell, Sunil Kataria) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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