DNA Exclusive: Will survey change Gyanvapi’s history?

The civil court of Varanasi has ordered that the survey of Gyanvapi Masjid would resume from Saturday. Its report will be presented in the court latest by May 17. If any person opposes the survey in the mosque premises or raises objection regarding videography, then action will be taken against him.

Zee News Editor-in-chief Sudhir Chaudhary analysed the court’s verdict, which has left the country’s extremists, intellectuals and liberals ‘worried.’

All parts of the mosque will be surveyed and during this time, all the vaults present there will also be videographed, so that it can be known whether the idols of Hindu deities are present here or not. This entire dispute is 353 years old. However, there has been a lot of discussion on this issue for the last 24 hours.

The Hindu side says that Mughal ruler Aurangzeb built the Gyanvapi Mosque in 1669 by demolishing the Kashi Vishwanath temple. Now the court has appointed three court commissioners to find out the truth. The present case is regarding the Shringar Gauri temple located in the Gyanvapi complex.

The Hindu parties claim that there are idols of many Hindu deities including Shringar Gauri, Lord Ganesha, Hanuman, etc. in the mosque. They are demanding to perform puja in the Shringar Gauri temple 365 days a year. However, the Muslim side is opposing the claim.