Bharatiya Janata Party’s MP Harnath Singh Yadav on Sunday (8th May 2022) slammed All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen leader Asaduddin Owaisi and demanded his arrest in a sedition case for his remarks over disputed structure of Gyanvapi mosque. AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi had criticized the Varanasi court’s decision to order a survey and videography of the disputed structure of the Gyanvapi mosque and the Shringar Gouri temple complex there. Owaisi said that this survey violates the law and by allowing the survey and videography of the premises, the court is paving the way for anti-Muslim violence.
Speaking to news agency ANI on the issue, MP Harnath Singh Yadav said, “Owaisi’s intention needs to be understood. Owaisi wants to create a rift between Hindus and Muslims in the country and he is dreaming of becoming Jinnah. So a case of sedition should be registered against him and should be put in jail immediately.”
He further said, “As far as the survey of Gyanvapi Masjid in Varanasi is concerned, any person, any institution is free to approach the court and when the lower court’s decision was challenged by the Muslim side in the higher court, the court rejected. The court’s decision must be respected.”
Harnath Singh Yadav added, “The local court had ordered a survey of the Gyanvapi mosque, which was later challenged in the Allahabad High Court. What is the fear in the survey of the Gyanvapi mosque? Which is the truth that he does not want to be exposed through the survey?”
Citing the Supreme Court’s decision on the Ram Janmabhoomi case, veteran BJP leader Harnath Singh Yadav said, “The way in which the Muslim brothers created communal harmony within the country on the decision of the Ram Janmabhoomi verdict and accepted it, in the same way, the survey of the Gyanvapi should be allowed on the orders of the local court.”
Earlier on Saturday 7th May 2022, Asaduddin Owaisi wrote in his tweet, “This order to survey Kashi’s Gyanvapi Masjid is an open violation of 1991 Places of Worship Act, which prohibits conversion of religious places. SC in Ayodhya judgment had said the Act protects secular features of Indian polity which is 1 of basic features of Constitution.”
He wrote in the next tweet, “Unfortunate that the Court* is blatantly defying the SC. By this order, the Court is opening the path for the bloodshed of Rath Yatra and anti-Muslim violence of the 1980s-1990s.”
This statement by Asaduddin Owaisi came a day after the survey and videography of the premises of the disputed structure called Gyanvapi mosque along with the Shringar Gouri temple idol were done on 6th May 2022 by the court commissioner as per the order of Varanasi’s civil judge.
In the latest update on the issue of the disputed structure at the Gyanvapi in Varanasi, the survey and videography of the disputed Gyanvapi mosque structure in Varanasi had to be stopped today, as a protesting Muslim prevented the survey team from entering the mosque on Sunday. While the team was able to survey the outer façade of the structure, they could not enter the structure for survey despite a court order, as the entrance to the disputed mosque was blocked by the protesting Muslims. The survey process has been stopped now due to the protests, and the survey team will approach the court for further orders.
