Varanasi: War of words over shivling at Gyanvapi mosque

VARANASI: Claims and counterclaims about the shivling that was purportedly found in the ablution pond of the Gyanvapi mosque complex three days ago intensified on Wednesday, a day ahead of the submission of the court-appointed commission's survey report.
Lawyer Harishankar Jain, who had first made the claim about the survey revealing a shivling, emerged from a Varanasi hospital to question the mosque committee's contention that the "structure" was actually part of a fountain.
"If Anjuman Intejamia Masajid (AIM) is claiming that it is a fountain and not a shivling in the wuzu pond, why are they objecting to an extended survey? If it is a fountain, then it should have a water supply line. AIM should make clear the technology used over 350 years ago to run this fountain. There are many surprising facts that will come to light very soon," Jain, who had been hospitalised on Tuesday for an asthma attack, told reporters.
Jain had moved a petition in the court of civil judge (senior division) Ravi Kumar Diwakar on the morning of May 17, claiming that a shivling had been found and seeking a directive to seal off the pond area to protect what he called the most crucial piece of evidence in the Shringar Gauri worship case.
Before leaving for Delhi with his lawyer son Vishnu Jain on Wednesday, the counsel for the Hindu side claimed that the basement of the Gyanvapi premises, which is in the possession of the Vyas family, was the route to the shivling from the side of the Nandi statue at Kashi Vishwanath Dham.
AIM joint secretary SM Yasin claimed that the fountain existed in the ablution pond since the construction of the mosque by the Sharki Sultans of Jaunpur.
"Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb had renovated the mosque," he said. "The ruins on the western walls are the remains of the centre of Mughal Emperor Akbar's Din-I Ilahi centre," he said while claiming that the temple never existed there.
On the Nandi statue facing the mosque, Yasin said that had been gifted "by the king of Nepal between 1860 and 1880".
"When the British found themselves in trouble due to the unity of Hindu and Muslims in the freedom struggle, they changed the direction of the Nandi's face towards the mosque to draw a line of division between the people of both the communities," he claimed.
He also claimed there were no basements on the premises.
The plaintiffs of the Shringar Gauri worship case are Rakhi Singh of Delhi, Laxmi Devi, Sita Sahu, Manju Vyas and Rekha Pathak, all natives of Varanasi, who filed the petition on April 18, 2021, seeking permission for daily worship and performing rituals at the idols of Shringar Gauri, Lord Ganesh, Lord Hanuman and Nandi and stopping the opponents from causing any damage to the statues. The respondents of the case include the UP government, AIM and others.