Gyanvapi should not be called a mosque: Yogi

New Delhi: Muslim society should step forward and offer a solution for a “historical mistake”, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has said referring to the Gyanvapi mosque dispute

The comments come at a time when Allahabad High Court is hearing a petition by the mosque committee, challenging a lower court’s order for a survey by the Archaeological Survey of India inside the mosque complex. A ruling on the petition is expected on August 3.

In an interview to the news agency ANI, the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister said there would be a dispute if Gyanvapi is called a mosque.

“If we call it a mosque, there will be a dispute. I feel whoever has been blessed with sight by God, that person should see. What is a trishul (trident) doing inside a mosque? We did not put it there. There is a jyotirlinga, dev pratimas (idols),” he said.

“The walls are screaming and saying something. I feel there should be a proposal from the Muslim society that there has been a historical mistake and we need a solution,” the Chief Minister said.

Responding to Adityanath’s remarks, All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) leader Asaduddin Owaisi said, “Chief Minister Yogi (Adityanath) knows that the Muslim side has opposed the ASI survey in Allahabad High Court and the judgment will be delivered in a few days, still he gave such a controversial statement, this is judicial overreach.”

The Gyanvapi mosque hit headlines in 2021 after a group of women approached a court in Varanasi for permission to worship deities in the Gyanvapi complex, located right next to the iconic Kashi Vishwanath temple in Varanasi.