New Delhi, July 31, 2023 (PPI-OT): All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) leader and member of Parliament, Asaduddin Owaisi has hit out at Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath over the latter’s ‘controversial’ comment – his first in public – on the Gyanvapi mosque survey case. The chief minister’s remarks that the walls of the mosque at Gyanvapi were ‘screaming,’ came less than 72 hours before the Allahabad High Court rules on allowing the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to establish if the mosque was, in fact, built over the remains of a temple. “CM Yogi knows that the Muslim side has opposed the ASI survey in Allahabad High Court and the judgement will be given in a few days, still he gave such a controversial statement, this is judicial overreach,” Owaisi, told the media.
In a media interview on Monday, Adityanath said that the Muslim society should come forward to admit that “a historic mistake” had happened and propose a “solution”. Adityanath, also the head priest of the Gorakhnath Mutt in Gorakhpur, said the answer was clear to anyone “who has got the vision of god”. “
The Allahabad High Court is hearing a petition by the mosque committee, challenging a lower court’s order for a survey by the ASI inside the mosque complex. A ruling on the petition is expected on August 3. The Gyanvapi mosque hit headlines in 2021 after a group of women approached a court in Varanasi for permission to worship deities in the Gyanvapi complex, located right next to the iconic Kashi Vishwanath temple in Varanasi.
The court then ordered a video survey of the complex during which an object was discovered that a section of people claimed to be shivling. The mosque management committee, however, said it was part of a fountain in the ‘Wuzukhana’ (pool) to wash hands and feet before prayers. The matter reached the Supreme Court, which sealed off the pool to prevent the situation from escalating.
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