BJP leader urges PM Modi to repeal Places of Worship Act

MYSURU: Former MLC and BJP leader G Madhusudhan has appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to repeal or amend the Places of Worship Act, 1991, passed by the then Rajiv Gandhi government. He said that issue of Ayodhya was resolved and expressed confidence on getting the matter related Mathura and other religious places resolved.

Explaining the Act, KV Dhananjay, advocate, Supreme Court, said it has a two-fold purpose. First, to ensure that a religious place of worship which existed as on August 15, 1947, remains that way and is not converted to a place of worship of a different religion. Second, where the status of a place of worship on 15 August, 1947, is not know, then whatever is the status at the relevant time, it should continue that way.

“So, the Hindu petitioners in both the Varanasi Gyanvapi Masjid case and the Mathura Shahi Idgah Mosque case are legally bound to reach a dead end and lose their cases. Though the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991, is a parliamentary legislation and the BJP commands sufficient majority in the Parliament to repeal it, this is unlikely to change the status quo.

This is because the Supreme Court in the Babri Masjid – Ram Janmabhoomi dispute has unanimously held that the purpose of the Places of Worship Act is tied to the secular fabric of the Constitution. Hence, repealing that law will not at all help those who wish to convert a place of worship of one religion into that of a different religion,” he said.