'Mustn't change status of any place of worship to avert conflict'

UDAIPUR: Congress on Saturday said no change should be made to any place of worship as it will trigger social conflict, citing the Places of Worship Act as the guiding force to settle such disputes.
Senior party leaders P Chidambaram and Salman Khurshid said the Places of Worship Act was passed by Parliament after careful consideration, making sole exception for Ram Janmabhoomi. The Act lays down that no place of worship of one religion shall be converted to that of another denomination.
"We believe that all other places of worship should remain in the status they are and they were. We should not make an attempt to change the status of any place of worship, that will only lead to huge conflict and it is to avoid such conflict that the Narasimha Rao government passed the Places of Worship Act," Khurshid said.
He underlined that the Act is the law of the land and the Supreme Court upheld it in its 2019 Ayodhya judgment. He said the law was passed to bring about a "closure", which "we" do not want to be disturbed.
The Congress members were asked a question about the survey of the Kashi-Vishwanath Temple-Gyanvapi Mosque complex in Varanasi, which is being carried out on a court order. According to the indications given by Khurshid at a press conference, it is likely that Congress may come out with a statement on the issue at the end of the Chintan Shivir.