India: An Ajmer court’s decision to hear a petition claiming the presence of a Shiva temple under the Ajmer dargah, has sparked intense political debate, coming as it does after similar claims over mosques and dargahs in Mathura, Varanasi and Dhar.
Amid intense criticism of Opposition leaders — who pointed out that days ago, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has sent a chador to the Ajmer dargah — leaders of the BJP have claimed a decision to check out the presence of temples under such disputed structures is fair.
“A court has ordered survey in Ajmer. What is the problem if court has ordered a survey?” said Union minister Giriraj Singh. “This is a truth that when Mughals came to India, they demolished our temples.
The Congress government has only done appeasement till now. If (Jawaharlal) Nehru would have stopped it in 1947 itself, there would have been no need to approach the court today,” he added.
At the heart of the argument is a law made in 1991, that maintains that barring Ayodhya, status quo as on August 15, 1947, will have to be maintained at religious structures across the country.
But in 2023, the Supreme Court had allowed a survey at Varanasi’s Gyanvapi Mosque, with then Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud arguing that the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991 does not debar ascertainment of the religious character of a place of worship.
This was pointed out by former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister and People’s Democratic Party chief Mehbooba Mufti.
