The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has succeeded in discovering that a 17th century mosque in one of Hinduism’s holiest cities was created after causing major destruction to a Hindu temple that was there, a lawyer for Hindu petitioners said, a possible fresh flashpoint in a decades-long dispute. Muslim lawyers in the legal case being heard in the city of Varanasi disputed the remarks by the lawyer for the Hindu petitioners but did not provide any kind of in depth information. The Gyanvapi mosque is in Varanasi, which is also Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s parliamentary constituency.
Reuters has not seen the full ASI report, copies of which were shared only with the petitioners in the case. The regional office of the ASI in Uttar Pradesh state, where Varanasi is located, rejected ramark.The ASI headquarters in New Delhi did not immediately took initiative to reply to an appeal for remark on a public holiday. The district court registrar in Varanasi city could not be reached for remark. “Remnants of the statues of Hindu gods have been discovered in the basements during the court-ordered survey,” Vishnu Shankar Jain, the lawyer representing Hindu petitioners, told reporters on Thursday.
He said the 800-page ASI report had found that based on the survey and the study of architectural remains, artefacts, arts and scriptures, “it can be said that there was a huge Hindu temple prior to the construction of the existing structure.” The report also showed the pre-existing structure appears to have been destroyed during the reign of Mughal emperor Aurangzeb and part of it was modified and reused in the existing structure, Jain revealed. He told the ANI news agency later that the Hindu petitioners will now approach the Supreme Court to demand that a region of the mosque be opened for Hindus. Advocates being favourable for Muslim groups said they would reply after studying the survey report.