In light of the Archaeological Survey of India's (ASI) latest report that pointed to the existence of a large Hindu temple structure at the Gyanvapi mosque complex in Varanasi, the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) on Saturday sought the land of Gyanvapi mosque be "handed over to Hindus".
What does VHP claim?
Taking cognisance of the ASI report, the VHP working president and senior advocate Alok Kumar made the demand to transfer the Gyanvapi mosque to another appropriate place and claimed the present land of the Gyanvapi complex to be given to the Kashi Vishwanath Committee or Hindu society.
"The Shivlinga in what was called the Wazukhana leaves no doubt that the structure does not have the character of a Mosque. The discovery of the names, including the Janardana, Rudra and Umeswara in the inscriptions found in the structure are the tell-tale evidence of this being a Temple", said Alok Kumar.
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Kumar further added that based on the evidence collected and the conclusions provided by the ASI iprove that the religious character of this place of worship existed on August 15, 1947 and, as at present, is a Hindu Temple."
"Thus, even as per Section 4 of the Places of Worship Act, 1991, the structure should be declared as a Hindu Temple," he said.
The official statement by the VHP included two major demands as follows:
The Hindus be permitted to offer Sewa Puja to the Shivlinga found in the so-called Wazukhana area, and,
Calls upon the Intezamia Committee to agree to respectfully shift the Gyanvapi Mosque to another appropriate place and to hand over the original site of Kashi Vishvanatha to the Hindu Society.
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Archaeologist urges Centre to make ASI report public
Amid much criticism regarding the report produced by the Archaeological Survey of Indis (ASI), BR Mani, the top archaeologist and the Director General of the National Museum, who led the court-ordered excavations in 2003, on Saturday urged the Central government to make the report public in a bid to silence all critics.
According to an India Today report, Mr Mani said, "The main issue is the publication of the [Archaeological Survey of India] report. Unless it gets published people may not be aware of what was the nature of the site and what importance was attached to it.
"Sixteen years I kept mum. I did not speak anything because I had given the court an affidavit that we would not speak about it. But now when the courts have given orders. Now, we can speak," he said.
