New Delhi: Rajya Sabha MP and BJP leader Subramanian Swamy has now taken up the task to “reclaim Kashi Vishwanath” temple in Varanasi — one of the three “Hindu sites” that Right-wing organisations claimed during the Ram temple movement.
On Saturday, Swamy took to Twitter to reiterate that a panel of seers has been formed with him as chairman to “liberate the site after recovering the Jyotirling removed by Aurangzeb”. He had spoken about the panel in May.
— Subramanian Swamy (@Swamy39) September 13, 2020
In his tweet, Swamy said he welcomed the “honour and responsibility”. He retweeted a number of posts in support of the cause he has taken up.
We owe him a lot.
Undoubtedly, he will succeed.
If vested interests are kept out, he may even reason with and persuade Waqf Boards to settle this matter across India once and for all.
All power to Dr.Swamy ji.— vikas (@vikas6th) September 13, 2020
Great Visionary, Dr. @Swamy39 ji’s next focus is the liberation and restoration of Kashi Vishwanath Temple !!??
'Kashi Vishwanath Next Focus' – Dr. @Swamy39 jee on #NewsX
हर हर महादेव || ?? https://t.co/NoensgqUct
— सरिता राजपूत (@SaritaRajput6) September 13, 2020
The movement for the temple is being sought despite a law that bars forcible changes to the religious character of places of worship across the country.
In its Ayodhya judgment last year, the Supreme Court had invoked the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act of 1991 to caution everyone against forcibly converting the religious character of places of worship across the country. It said the Act “speaks to the future by mandating that the character of a place of public worship shall not be altered”.
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The temples issue
In 1984, Right-wing organisations such as the RSS-affiliated Vishva Hindu Parishad raised the matter of reconstruction of Hindu temples at Ayodhya, Mathura and Kashi (Varanasi) for the first time.
During the Ram Janmabhoomi movement, the VHP raised the slogan “Ayodhya-Babri sirf jhaanki hai, Kashi-Mathura baaki hai (Ayodhya-Babri is just the start, Varanasi and Mathura are still left)”.
The Kashi Vishwanath temple shares a boundary wall with the Gyanvapi mosque, while the Shahi Idgah in Mathura is adjacent to the Krishna Janmabhoomi temple complex.
Earlier this week, Hindu seers also revived the demand for the removal of mosques from “holy sites” in Kashi (Varanasi) and Mathura, pushing the RSS to rethink its decision not to get involved in any Ayodhya-like movement in the future.
The Akhil Bharatiya Akhada Parishad (ABAP), an apex body of 14 akhadas or organisations of saints and seers, passed a resolution in Prayagraj to “liberate Kashi and Mathura” by removing the two mosques. It sought the support of the RSS and VHP, which had launched the Ram Janmabhoomi movement in the 1980s.
In May, Swamy had spoken on the Kashi Vishwanath matter saying he would take it up after the lockdown is lifted.
Kashi Vishvanath Temple will be taken up after Lockdown is over. A Committee of prominent Sadhus has been formed with Jagadguru Jr. Shankaracharya Jitendra Swamiji as Gen Secy and myself as Chairman to liberate the site after recovering the Jyotirling removed by Aurangzeb
— Subramanian Swamy (@Swamy39) May 23, 2020
Earlier in March, Swamy had said, “Liberation and restoration of the Kashi Vishwanath Jyotirling Mandir is a fundamental part of Hindu Renaissance. I hope the Muslim community will cooperate with us Hindus on this and help us restore the temple.”
Liberation and restoration of the Kashi Vishwanath Jyotirling Mandir is a fundamental part of Hindu Renaissance. I hope the Muslim community will cooperate with us Hindus on this and help us restore the temple
— Subramanian Swamy (@Swamy39) March 5, 2020
SC on places of worship law
In its November 2019 judgment on the Ram Janmabhoomi issue, the Supreme Court invoked the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act of 1991, which prohibits the conversion of any religious place of worship as it existed at the time of Independence.
The law was enacted by the P.V. Narasimha Rao government in 1991, over a year before the Babri mosque was demolished in Ayodhya.
In its judgment, the apex court cited the essence of the Act to rebuke the fundamentalists who sought to avenge the excesses of invaders to tear down the 16th-century mosque on 6 December 1992.
Also read: Rs 6 lakh stolen from Ayodhya’s Ram Mandir trust through two fake cheques
What sacrilegious act the muslims(Aurangzeb) did by removing the earlier Kashi Vishwanath temple is equivalent to the situation if in case another religion say Hinduism establishes a temple by destroying Kaba in Mecca. Had such a thing happened a 1000 years ago or even 300 years ago and today the modern day muslims take the initiative to liberate Mecca; would you speak in this same language you spineless boneless piece of shit ThePrint….every kind of nonsense you speak against every prominent pro nation thing…be it Kashmir or NRC or CAA or fake news for Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev elephant corridor….to this editor who wrote this nonsense; I ask if you have any personal integrity, leave this ThePrint and join some better place!!! For ThePrint is all fluff very less substance. All you wish is to break the nation and let not the national pride be created. So that India can never rise; just always kept busy in small community matters and not the real thing.
The key phrase is ‘forcible change’. All future changes at Kashi and Mathura will be voluntary and they will happen.
The demand for the ‘liberation” of the Kashi and Mathura temples is on a different footing from that of the Ram temple. In both Kashi and Mathura, thriving temples do exist , side by side with mosques, and they face no threat at all. . These mosques have been built by demolishing temples . But that is part of history and needs to be accepted by all, even if unpleasant. Mosque and temple co existing together today, with never a communal incident must be a matter of pride for all Indians and a show piece for the world.
Extremist Hindus who want to shift these mosques and others like it would like to blame and punish current day Indian Muslims who have no connection with the marauding Taimur, Khilji or Aurangzeb. Instead the BJP type hardliners and others in the community should show the true Hindu ethos and celebrate the fact of Kashi and Mathura having places for worship for both religions side by side. Such a spirit will ensure that India does not go the way of Turkey who has converted the Hagia Sophia into a mosque , or go the way of Pakistan where scores of temples have been demolished and the Hindu population reduced to almost nil from 15% in 1947.
“Extremist Hindus who want to shift these mosques and others like it would like to blame and punish current day Indian Muslims who have no connection with the marauding Taimur, Khilji or Aurangzeb. ”
Why can’t the same be said about the Reservations in India and be done with once and for all ? Why to punish the present day innocents for the wrong done by the previous generations ?
No both kashi and mathura temple were removed from their original place by muslim Invaders and these two are holiest shrine of Hindus both the lands on which mosque exist their cost is bear by hindu boards so both original place should be handed over to hindus more than 2000 temples were demolished no one is saying to reconvert all of them but these three holiest shrines belong to hindus.