Gyanvapi Dispute: Allow Puja In Wazukhana, 'Respectfully Shift' Mosque, VHP Demands After ASI Report

VHP also cited Section 4 of the Places of Worship Act, 1991 and said the structure should be declared a Hindu temple.

The Gyanvapi Mosque as seen from the Kashi Vishwanath Temple, in Varanasi.

Source : PTI

New Delhi: The Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) demanded that Hindus be allowed to worship in the disputed “Wazukhana area” in the Gyanvapo mosque premises after the ASI survey report claimed the mosque was built on the remains of a temple, news agency ANI reported.

Speaking to the news agency, VHP international working president Alok Kumar also said that the Muslim community should “respectfully shift” the mosque to some other place and hand over the site to the Hindus for constructing a temple.

“With all the evidence from the ASI survey findings that has now come to the fore, there is no doubt that the mosque was raised on the ruins of a Hindu temple. The VHP has put forward two demands — the process of offering puja in the Wazukhana area should begin with due sanction from the court and the Intezamia committee should also take due cognizance of the new report and respectfully shift the Gyanvapi mosque to another appropriate place while handing over the original site to the Hindu community,” Kumar told ANI.

He also cited Section 4 of the Places of Worship Act, 1991 and said the structure should be declared a Hindu temple.

"The evidence collected and the conclusions provided by the ASI do prove that the religious character of this place of worship existed on the 15th day of August, 1947, and as at present is of a Hindu Temple," Kumar said in a statement.

He further said that the ASI finding "reconfirms that the mosque had been constructed after demolishing a magnificent temple.”

The VHP demands come days after the ASI survey report on the Gyanvapi mosque said the structure was built after demolishing a pre-existing temple, the lawyer representing the Hindu side said.  

“Based on scientific studies/survey carried out, study of architectural remains, exposed features and artefacts, inscriptions, art and sculptures, it can be said that there existed a Hindu temple prior to the construction of the existing structure,” the ASI survey report said.