The Washington Post - USA (2022-05-26)

A16 EZ RE THE WASHINGTON POST.THURSDAY, MAY 26 , 2022

at t he disputed site, which Hindus

believe to be the birthplace of the

god Ram.

Vinod Bansal, a spokesperson

for the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, a n

affiliate of the ruling party, said

the recent relic discovery con-

firmed that the Gyanvapi mosque

is a temple.

“Truth has come out. Arrange-

ments s hould be made f or Hindus

to pray there,” Bansal said. Those

who still believe it to be a mosque,

he said, were either “Islamic jiha-

di forces” or “the secular brigade,”

a term u sed pejoratively by Hindu

nationalists for liberals who

champion India’s secular ideals.

The ruling in Varanasi set off a

spate of similar petitions across

the country laying claim to other

historic and religious sites built

by Muslim rulers. Even the Ta j

Mahal — the white-marbled mau-

soleum built by a Mughal em-

peror as a monument of love for

his queen, and India’s most popu-

lar tourist destination — has not

been spared.

While it is widely believed that

a temple once stood at the site of

the Gyanvapi mosque, some histo-

rians have argued that political

expansion rather than religious

bigotry was often behind temple

demolitions by Muslim rulers.

They note that Hindu kings also

targeted places of worship, in-

cluding temples. And they take

issue with the notion that India’s

past can be reduced to a glorious

Hindu period followed by cen-

turies of Muslim tyranny.

The Hindu nationalist view of

history is “extremely prejudiced

and totally motivated by the de-

sire to inculcate blind pride in

oneself and blind hatred of the

other,” said Ta nika Sarkar, a histo-

rian who taught at New Delhi’s

Jawaharlal Nehru University.

She feared the latest case was

likely to “lead to a great deal of

violence against ordinary Mus-

lims.”

In recent months, groups of

saffron-clad Hindu men, some-

times wielding swords, have ral-

lied outside mosques chanting Is-

lamophobic slogans, often lead-

ing to clashes. Authorities in BJP-

ruled states have targeted

interfaith marriages, banned

headscarves from classrooms and

summarily demolished Muslim

homes.

The Gyanvapi mosque, with its

white domes and minarets, rises

out of a dense neighborhood in

Varanasi next to the gold-spired

Kashi Vishwanath temple, dedi-

cated to the Hindu god Shiva.

Here, in one of India’s most an-

cient cities, mosque and temple

stand side-by-side — monuments

to diverse communities that have

coexisted for centuries.

The site sits at the heart of a

Modi-backed redevelopment

project. A labyrinth of homes,

small temples and shops around

the neighborhood were demol-

ished in recent years to build a

commanding sandstone complex

connecting the temple to the

nearby riverfront.

The white paint on the mosque

has blackened f rom neglect, and it

remains caged behind 20-foot-tall

metal fences. Police guard it

around-the-clock and access is

limited.

On a recent evening, as mon-

keys scampered between the two

holy sites, barefoot Hindu devo-

tees poured milk on an oval-

shaped black stone, the symbol of

Shiva, at the temple sanctum. The

court survey claimed to have dis-

covered a similar stone inside the

mosque, in a pond where M uslims

perform ablutions. Muslims ar-

gue the s tructure i s a fountain and

have asked for it to be examined

by an expert.

But they fear they have already

lost in the court of public opinion.

Popular pro-government news

channels broadcast the survey

claims unchallenged.

As M uslim men streamed out of

the mosque after Friday prayers,

two middle-aged Hindu men

stood watching by the roadside.

One remarked that the mosque

should be turned into a temple.

The other nodded in agreement.

“The one in power is always

right,” one said, refusing to share

his name.

For now, the top court has al-

lowed prayer gatherings to con-

tinue at the mosque and directed

a lower court to hear the Muslim

petitioners. Experts expect a pro-

tracted legal battle, l ike that of the

demolished Babri mosque, which

was handed to Hindus in 2019

after years of litigation.

“If history is the prism, then

how far will we go back in time,

because this is an endless debate,”

said Ansari, the Muslim man in

Varanasi. “Ultimately, Indians

have to determine whether the

road to development can be paved

by digging up the past.”

Utpal Pathak in Varanasi contributed

to this report.

BY NIHA MASIH

varanasi, india — O n a swelter-
ing Friday afternoon last week,
outside an imposing sandstone
gate leading to the Gyanvapi
mosque, the road teemed with
dozens of policemen, some armed
with tear gas. There were swarms
of television cameras, and report-
ers thrust mics in the faces of
prayer-goers.
The 17 th-century mosque in
Varanasi, Hinduism’s holiest city,
has emerged as the latest flash
point in the escalating struggle
between India’s Hindu national-
ists and its Muslim minority. A fter
a controversial court survey
claimed to find the relic of a Hin-
du deity on its premises, the area
was sealed by the court and large
prayer gatherings were banned.
For decades, Hindu national-
ists have laid claim to several
high-profile mosques, arguing
they were originally Hindu tem-
ples, or holy sites desecrated by
Muslim emperors hundreds of
years ago. Their demands, which
Muslims see as an attempt to
erase their history from the coun-
try, have gained traction under
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s
government.
“This is all a political ploy,” said
Ateeq Ansari, a 66-year-old busi-
nessman who has prayed at the
mosque for decades. “The beauty
of this country — its diversity — is
now being tarnished.”
The efforts to reclaim Muslim
places of worship aren’t primarily
about litigating the past, experts
say. “ For Hindu n ationalists, there
is no place for Muslims in India’s
future except as oppressed, sec-
ond-class citizens whose rights
are routinely denied,” said Audrey
Truschke, a professor of South
Asian history at Rutgers Univer-
sity.
The new legal momentum in
the Gyanvapi case has led to fears
of street violence, like the kind
that engulfed the country 30 years
ago after a Hindu mob razed a
16th-century mosque in the city of
Ayodhya. In the riots that fol-
lowed, 2,000 people were killed.
It was the movement against
the mosque in Ayodhya that cata-
pulted Modi’s Bharatiya Janata
Party, o r the BJP, onto the national
political stage in the early 1990 s.
Now, a g rand temple is being built

Mosque spotlights India’s battle over religious identity

PHOTOS BY SANJAY KANOJIA/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES

LEFT: Police stand guard near the Gyanvapi mosque during Friday

noon prayers last week in Varanasi, India. The area was sealed

after a court survey claimed to find the relic of a Hindu deity at the

site. Hindu nationalists contend the site once was a Hindu temple,

the latest such claim against a mosque in a clash with minority

Muslims that has been ongoing for decades. ABOVE: Muslims

arriving for prayers speak with officers outside the mosque.

“For Hindu nationalists,

there is no place for

Muslims in India’s

future except as

oppressed, second-class

citizens whose rights

are routinely denied.”

Audrey Truschke, professor of South

Asian history at Rutgers University

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