New Delhi: The Supreme Court’s latest refusal to interfere with the survey order passed in Varanasi’s Gyanvapi mosque case and asking the Varanasi district judge to decide on the suit by the Hindu side for offering prayers at the Shivling site has only underscored the misreading of the developments by the Congress and other so-called secular parties.
Despite many Congress leaders realising that the party has lost a huge section of the Hindu votes across the northern states, they have lost an opportunity to rework their plan to win back them.
On the other hand, their attempts to use the Places of Worship Act of 1991 as a shield to justify their continued support for the Muslim side has received a big knock.
Justice DY Chandrachud, one of the judges on the bench of SC, has observed that ascertainment of the religious character of the place is not barred by the Act. At some level the trial judge’s decision to go for a survey to determine the religious character may not fall foul of the Act, he has said.
These developments come at the end of the week that saw the apex Court ordering protection of the area where a ‘Shivling’ was reported to have been found at the Gyanvapi Shringar Gauri Complex. Of course, it had also clarified that there shall be no restriction on Muslims offering namaz or other religious observances there. The order had come on a petition filed by ‘Committee of Management of Anjuman Intezamia Masajid’ challenging the Allahabad High Court’s order permitting a local court-appointed commissioner to inspect, conduct survey and video-graph the Gyanvapi-Shringar Gauri complex.
The SC specifically responded to the plea on behalf of the ‘Committee of Management of Anjuman Intezamia Masajid’ by senior counsel Huzefa Ahmadi that Gyanvapi Mosque was covered under the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991. He said the trial court’s order was in the teeth of the Act.
Also, the SC saw merit in not allowing Wazoo Khana (the tank inside the mosque) to be used after senior advocate CS Vaidyanathan, representing a Hindu party, said desecration of the place where the ‘Shivling’ was found can’t be allowed.
Vaidyanathan wanted the religious character of the place to be determined.
Right from the time, a Varanasi civil court ordered a survey on the plea of five women to offer worship inside the mosque because of the presence of Hindu deities, the Congress had backed the Places of Worship Act, a 1991 legislation that “prohibits conversion of any place of worship.”
The Congress appears to have gone with the “left liberal” commentariat that Gyanvapi is following the Ayodhya way at the behest of BJP-RSS–without realising the fundamental differences between the two issues. Ayodhya’s case rested on the importance of the disputed site, which went to the Hindu side on the orders of the apex Court. Whereas, in the Gyanvapi, there is no attempt to seek a change in the character of the mosque in this state. The Hindu side is only pleading for permission to perform puja to the deities that have existed for long inside the mosque.
No surprise, senior Congress leaders P Chidambaram and Salman Khurshid chose to defend the Places of Worship Act. That too on the sidelines of the ‘Chintan Shivir’ at Udaipur. No attempt should be made to change the status of any place of worship as it would lead to huge conflict, held Chidambaram. His remarks came a day after the Supreme Court refused to stay the inspection of the Kashi Vishwanath temple-Gyanvapi mosque complex in Varanasi.
However, since 2014, the Congress has been trying to finds ways to handle the Hindutva question to counter what it calls the BJP’s version of an “ideal Hindu.” Last year, Rahul Gandhi led the party on a ‘Hindu-vs-Hindutvawadi’ campaign but it didn’t create waves. Even at the Udaipur conclave, some Congress leaders discussed ideas to counter the BJP’s narrative in the run-up to the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Their suggestions to engage the Hindu bodies on the subject were shot down by leaders from the southern states. Ultimately, the party decided that it would rely on the principles enunciated by Gandhiji.
But the discovery of a Shivling inside the Gyanvapi mosque is no small matter. It brings a new dimension to the dispute over the mosque, which was built after demolishing the temple on the orders of Mughal emperor Aurangazeb.
Interestingly, AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi has questioned the “silence” of Opposition parties, including the Congress and SP, on the video survey of the Gyanvapi Masjid complex in Varanasi, alleging that they are keeping mum because Muslims are not their vote bank. SP chief Akhilesh Yadav did a self goal by dismissing the discovery of the Shivling as no big deal. A temple can be built by putting a stone with a red flag around a Peepal tree.
(The author is a senior journalist and a well known political commentator)