Agra’s Jama Masjid may be UP’s next disputed mosque
The temple-mosque issue is refusing to die down in Uttar Pradesh, despite the RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat’s strong statement against Hindu organizations dragging every mosque into dispute.
Now, a lawyer has claimed that the ‘vigrah (idol)’ of Thakur Keshav Dev Ji was removed from Mathura’s Krishna Janmabhoomi and taken to Agra, to be buried under the city’s Shahi Jama Masjid.
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The petitioner, Mahendra Pratap Singh, has served notices to the Centre, Secretary of Culture, Director General of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), Director of ASI Mathura, and Superintending Archaeologist of Agra before filing a petition at the court of the Civil Judge of Agra.
Singh had filed the same petition on May 27, as well. But it was rejected by the court since the ASI had not been served a notice.
“Aurangzeb demolished the Thakur Keshav Dev Ji temple in 1670 and then buried the ‘vigrah’ of the temple either under the stairs of Begum Sahiba Qudsia Begum Mosque or the Jama Masjid so that Muslims can walk over the deities for centuries,” he told India Today.
“In my notice, I have cited many historical accounts in support of my claims,” he said, adding that the notice requires the ASI to hand over the idol to Mathura’s Katra Keshav Dev Temple within two months, failing which he will move court again.
“Some people are continuously trying to highlight themselves through such frivolous matters. The government should place a strict ban on such people since they disturb the peace in society. The government’s silence on such matters only makes such elements bolder, and soon the situation will go out of the government’s hands. The entire country’s people are one and have one shared culture. But some people are trying to divide communities, which cannot be tolerated,” Bhartiya Muslim Vikas Parishad Chairman Sami Aghai told India Today.
