Gyanvapi case quite similar to RJB-Babri issue: VHP gen secy

LUCKNOW: A top Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) functionary on Tuesday drew a close similarity between the Gyanvapi Complex and the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid site in Ayodhya, saying that both were constructed by Mughal invaders and the entire Hindu community has been staking claim to both the structures for decades.
In an exclusive interview with TOI, VHP national general secretary, Milind Parande, said that there was little doubt that the Gyanvapi case was “very much similar” to the Ram Janmabhoomi issue which eventually went in favour of the Hindu side nearly two-and-a-half years ago. The Supreme Court in November 2019 had ruled in favour of a Ram temple – the project which has been flagged by the Sangh and BJP as a coveted trophy.
"That is also true for Krishna Janmabhoomi in Mathura (near Shahi Idgah Mosque) as well," he said, asserting that the Parishad would “calmly wait” for the court order in the Gyanvapi case and then act accordingly.
Parande's stand came a day after a Varanasi civil judge directed sealing of the area where petitioner's lawyer in Gyanvapi complex case claimed that a 'shivling' was found inside the 'wuzu' (ablution) pond.
The VHP national general secretary said that while the final survey report would be put up in the court on Thursday, various sources suggested that a 'shivling' has been found which is a subject of "great satisfaction" for the entire Hindu community. "The picture will further get clear once all the evidence will be put forth in the court," he said.
His observation also came a day after All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi reiterated that the Muslims had already lost the Babri masjid but won't lose another mosque. The Anjuman Intejamia Masajid, which manages Gyanvapi affairs and is one of the parties in the case, has maintained that the structure which plaintiffs and their lawyers were claiming to be a 'shivling' was actually part of a fountain.
Significantly, the top brass of BJP, too, has been maintaining a studied silence over the Gyanvapi issue. UP deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya was the only exception. "No matter how much you hide the truth, it will come out one day...Satya hi Shiv hai (Truth is Shiva)," he tweeted, in an oblique reference to the Gyanvapi case. Maurya, significantly, has a background of VHP, the religious arm of the RSS.
Experts said that just in case of Ram Janmabhoomi, a detailed map of Gyanvapi will be prepared. In the Ayodhya case, the Faizabad Civil Court had appointed a court commissioner on April 1, 1950, to map the disputed site. Later, the Archaeology Survey of India performed excavation of the site on the basis of that map.
Sources said that the purported emergence of what was being called as a 'shivling' has prompted the VHP brass to watch the developments vis-à-vis Gyanvapi complex much more closely.