EDITORIAL: As the ploy to turn India into a Hindu rashtra gains momentum, a court in prime minister Narendra Modi’s constituency has upheld maintainability of pleas that mosques should be opened for daily puja by Hindu worshippers. The Varanasi court ruled in favour of five Hindu women who had sought permission to pray at a historic mosque constructed by Emperor Aurangzeb.
The court presumed — in clear violation of the 1991 Places of Worship Act that upholds the status of all religious structures as they stood on India’s independence day on 15 August 1947 — that plaintiff’s suit is limited to right of worship as a civil and fundamental right. By admitting it as a maintainable suit the court has reportedly ‘opened the door’ for other petitions demanding more mosques to be treated as Hindu places of worship. As the court verdict came a crowd of Hindu women distributed sweets and danced, singing religious hymns. The Gyanvapi mosque is one the large mosques in Uttar Pradesh (UP) and is located close to the Kashi Vishwanath temple.
Earlier, this year Hindus had approached the court for permission to pray in the mosque, citing existence of some Hindu relics in the Wuzzukhana (ablution area or room) of the mosque. A survey team upheld the Hindu women’s claim, and the court ordered authorities to allow 20 women to pray inside the premises of the Gyanvapi mosque. Syed Muhammad Yaseen, a representative of the mosque management, points out that the Muslims have been praying in the mosque for centuries. The committee will challenge the Varanasi court in a higher court in line with the committee’s decision to follow the legal course.
But how long? In Modi’s India, the space for religious minorities is continuously shrinking. India is going to be no more a civilization that had flourished over the millennia. It is the birthplace of Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism. It has been a land of religious diversity for thousands of years. At present, however, the BJP-RSS combine is bent upon converting the country into a Hindu rashtra. Last December, Hindutva zealots called for mass murder of Muslims and vandalized Christmas festivities. Narendra Modi watched it closely but did not comment.
A month later, photographs of 100 prominent Muslim women, including journalists, civil society activists, film stars and artists were displayed on website for auction. And a daily murder of Muslims in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir is no more the front-page news. But who cares. All of it is in violation of International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which is a universal binding provision in relation to the rights of minorities. But to Modi’s great relief, the world at large is not there to hear anything against him, given his country’s growing economic and strategic clout. Where is then, by the way, the so-called ‘world conscience’?
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022