On a day when Prime Minister Narendra Modi performed bhoomi pujan of the proposed Ram temple in Ayodhya, a senior minister in Karnataka said temples of Kashi Vishwanath and Mathura have also to be liberated. Hailing the foundation stone laying ceremony in Ayodhya, K.S. Eshwarappa said there is a “sign of slavery” at Krishna temple in Mathura and Kashi Vishwanath temple in Varanasi.
“It’s a good day that the foundation stone for Ram temple has been laid. A beautiful temple will come up. But there are Kashi Vishwanath and Krishna Janmasthan temples which also have to be liberated,” he said.
“I have visited the two temples. There is a sign of slavery. Mosques are there at holy places. When I visited the place at Mathura, I witnessed the wall. When we look at the wall, we feel like we are still slaves,” Eshwarappa was quoted as saying by ANI.
He expressed hope that one day Mathura Sri Krishna and Kashi Vishwanath will be freed and temple will be built.
Last week, BJP leader Vinay Katiyar had said that his party will work towards the goal of reclaiming the dispute temples in Kashi and Mathura. He had said the BJP would deliberate on ways in which the temple construction in these two places could be achieved.
In June, a Hindu organisation had moved the Supreme Court to open the Kashi and Mathura temple disputes. Petitioner Vishwa Bhadra Pujari Purohit Mahasangh challenged the validity of the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991, which says the religious character of a place of worship existing on August 156, 1947 will continue to be the same as it existed on that day.
The Act has kept Ayodhya case out of its purview.
Earlier in the day, Modi performed bhoomi pujan of the proposed temple in Ayodhya, bringing to fruition the BJP’s ‘mandir’ movement that defined its politics for three decades and took it to the heights of power.
RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath were among those who attended the event at the site where a large number of devout Hindus believe Lord Ram was born.
