Mahant Ganesh Shankar Upadhyay of Kashi Karwat temple has slammed Aaj Tak and The Lallantop for presenting his statements about the Shivling found in Gyanvapi in a way to suit their own agenda. In a video response he gave to the channels while talking to Khabar India TV, Ganesh Shankar Upadhyay said, “If they have led me in a particular direction to say something and then used it to prove their point that there is no temple but there is a mosque; then can’t they see that it is originally a temple structure from the front and back and sides? Are they blind?”
#ज्ञानवापी_मामला: एजेंडा पूर्ण पत्रकारिता करके बयान को तोड़ने-मरोड़ने वाले @TheLallantop @IndiaToday @aajtak खुद ही सुन लो। शिवलिंग को फब्बारा बताने वाले ‘काशी करवट’ के महंत गणेश शंकर उपाध्याय जी ने आपको गरियाते हुए शुभकामना संदेश भेजा है। @AshokShrivasta6 @IAbhay_Pratap pic.twitter.com/si02Hnpi8U
— Keshavmalan (@Keshavmalan93) May 28, 2022
In a report by The Lallantop and Aaj Tak, Mahant Ganesh Shankar Upadhyay’s statement, in which he had shared his childhood memories about the wuzukhana of the disputed structure at Gyanvapi, was used to peddle their agenda that there is no Shivling in there and hence implying that the structure is a not a temple but a mosque. The leftist media houses and subsequently the Islamists had used his selected comments to claim that a Hindu priest is saying that there is no Shivling in the structure.
When asked about the Shivling found in Gyanvapi during the videography, Mahant had told the Aaj Tak journalist, “Its shape is just like that of a Shivling. According to the information that we are fed since our childhood, it is a fountain. We were told so since our childhood. We have seen it since childhood. We used to go there. We have been to the mosque hundreds of times. We used to sit there for hours. We used to talk with the Maulavis and Sevadars there. The structure existed at that time too. It was seen in the centre there. It is not a new thing for me. Out of curiosity, we used to ask them what is this. So we were told that this is a fountain. We never saw it in operating condition, nor did we bother to ask first. We then asked them how it operates, and how it looks when there are fountains. And you know fountains usually look good and they were saying that it is since the Mughal era, so we were curious.”
Seer Ganesh Shankar Upadhyay, The head priest of Kashi Karvat temple which is located behind Gyanvapi mosque claims that the structure found inside the Gyanvapi Wazukhana is a fountain & not a Shivling. Says, he’s seen the fountain for last 50 years, but never seen it operational pic.twitter.com/aUR7gplDAU
— Mohammed Zubair (@zoo_bear) May 26, 2022
He further said, “So we were like, there is a mosque in front of our home. Our Mahant residence is just 10 meters away. And there is a Mughal time fountain in the mosque as told by them. We had a cordial relationship with the Maulavis. There were no disputes in those days. We used to talk with them many times. So what information we have from those personal talks is that it is a fountain. But we have never seen it in working condition. Now there are visuals in the media. The pond is being cleaned. There is a top view of the structure. It indeed looks like a Shivling only. We have seen the pond in a dry condition for the first time. Though we were told that it is a fountain, now the thing has come up that it is a Shivling. It is a claim of Hindus and the court is to decide it. Nandi is also there, though it is situated at a distance. And there was a Kashi Vishwashwar temple is an undisputed fact. And that temple was destroyed during the Mughal rule. The mosque was made on the top of some part of the temple.”
According to his knowledge and understanding, It is a fountain.
— Mohammed Zubair (@zoo_bear) May 26, 2022
When asked if the boundary around the ‘Shivling/Fountain’ was recently constructed, He says, it was there since his childhood. Says, Fountains designs are usually like that & according to him it’s a ‘Fountain’. pic.twitter.com/RF3dZXS2h0
Even while continuing the talk, the Aaj Tak journalist had started his next question with a remark, ‘As you have said that it is a fountain.’ Even in the reports, Aaj Tak focused on Mahant saying that it is a fountain. In this way, Mahant Ganesh Shankar Upadhyay’s statements were used to peddle an agenda. They ignored the next part of his statement and focused only on the first part, where he had said what he was told by the Muslim clerics. He didn’t claim on his own that the structure is a fountain and not a Shivling.
While talking with Khabar India TV, furious Mahant Ganesh Shankar Upadhyay lashed out at the agenda peddlers. He said, “Those spreading and broadcasting false propaganda are a blot on Sanatan Hindu Dharma. You shoot for five times in different ways and show only the five minutes? You take some statement. Join it to some other and then make the thing that suits you. They have done it under a conspiracy. They have presented my remarks in a way that will divide the collective Hindu opinion. And dividing Hindus is a conspiracy of non-Hindus. There is a need to identify those who are creating this divide. This all is a conspiracy. There is a whole lobby doing that. They may be from the media. They may be from politics or they may be Vidharmi Hindus.”
Mahant Ganesh Shankar Upadhyay further said, “Shahar Mufti says that we gave away Babri and now nothing more can be given. What did they give? And is it really given by them? Did Hindus beg for that? No. It was a fight of centuries and generations. Thousands of people have given their lives for that. And they talk of Aurangzeb who killed his father, brother, and son. Among all the Mughal rulers, he was the ugliest. And about what centuries of history you are talking about. If you want to talk about centuries, talk to Hindus. How many centuries of history does Islam have? We are here for the last one lakh years. And we have its proofs. We have all the scriptures and Puranas.”
