Indore, May 15 (PTI) Congress Rajya Sabha member Digvijaya Singh on Friday said the Supreme Court will now have to decide whether worship and prayers are permitted at Bhojshala-Kamal Maula Mosque complex in Dhar, his statement coming after the Madhya Pradesh High Court declared that the structure was a temple of goddess Saraswati.
In its ruling on Friday, the Indore bench of the HC also quashed the April 7, 2003 order of the ASI, which allowed Muslims to offer prayers on the premises every Friday.
Incidentally, the Muslim side has announced that it would challenge the HC decision in the apex court. A Hindu party has filed a caveat in the Supreme Court, saying no orders be passed without hearing it on any appeal against the HC order.
“Bhojshala is an ASI-protected monument. We will study the High Court’s decision in the Bhojshala case,” Singh told reporters here.
Whether worship or prayers can take place inside such a monument is for the Supreme Court to decide, he added.
Singh said he has always maintained that the idol of Goddess Saraswati, kept in the British Museum in London, should be brought back to India at all costs.
“But I haven’t said anything about where this statue should be installed after it returns to India,” the former MP CM said.
Incidentally, in its 242-page order, the HC said the central government “may consider” representations of some of the petitioners to bring back the ‘pratima’ (idol) of goddess Saraswati from London Museum and re-establish the same within the complex.
Former president Shankar Dayal Sharma had also made efforts in getting the idol back, Singh claimed.
“It is a matter of study that the ASI’s scientific survey report on the Bhojshala complex makes no mention of this statue,” Singh pointed out.
The Rajya Sabha MP said rules and regulations should be followed in matters related to disputed complexes, adding that cases related to the Gyanvapi Mosque in Varanasi, the Shahi Jama Masjid in Sambhal, and the Krishna Janmabhoomi-Shahi Eidgah in Mathura are already pending in the Supreme Court.
The country is currently going through an “economic and social crisis,” and it is not appropriate to raise “Hindu-Muslim” issues at such a time, Singh added.
Terming the alleged irregularities in the NEET exam as a “huge scam,” Singh said the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education, of which he is chairperson, had given detailed suggestions to the central government in its 2024 report to prevent such irregularities.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi should immediately seek the resignation of the Union Education Minister and dismiss the chairman of the National Testing Agency (NTA), he said. PTI HWP MAS BNM
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