A model showing the Gyanvapi mosque as a temple is on display at an exhibition at the Kumbh Mela in Allahabad, indicating Hinduism’s largest congregation is being used to publicise a Hindutva agenda.
The Gyanvapi, which abuts the Kashi Vishwanath Temple in Varanasi, is among a dozen-odd Islamic structures that are the subject of court petitions claiming they were built over demolished temples and should be shifted, with their sites handed over to Hindus.
Swami Narendranand Saraswati, mahant of the Sumeru Mutt in Varanasi, unveiled the exhibition on Saturday. Apart from the Gyanvapi model, whose top half is designed like a temple, it displays 120 pictures — purportedly of various parts of the mosque that feature Hindu figurines and symbols.
Some sources claimed these pictures were taken during a survey of the mosque, carried out in 2023 on the orders of a local court in Varanasi. However, the court never disclosed what the pictures taken during the survey showed.
The survey pictures were placed before the court in a sealed envelope and were earmarked as confidential, so displaying them would invite contempt. Officially, the exhibition organisers said the displayed pictures had been snapped by photography enthusiasts and were not classified.
“We want to liberate the Gyanvapi by constitutional means. All the Sanatani people (Hindus) must come forward to take this mission forward,” the mahant said.
The exhibition is being held by the Sri Adimahadev Kashi Dharmalay Mukti Nyas, a Varanasi organisation dedicated to “liberating” temples allegedly controlledby non-Hindus.
Ram Prasad Singh, a trustee of the Nyas, said: “We began a Mahayagnya at the (Mela) camp on Saturday to publicise our mission. For this, we have put up banners and posters across the Mela area.”
He added: “The Gyanvapi issue is a mission of the entire Hindu community. Our idea behind the exhibition and Mahayagnya in the Mela area is to make people aware of it and mobilise them to the cause.”
The Gyanvapi case is being heard in the lower Varanasi court as well as Allahabad High Court. Hindu petitioners have claimed that Mughal emperor Aurangzeb demolished a part of the original Kashi Vishwanath temple and built the Gyanvapimosque over it.
After the 2023 survey, the Varanasi court had last year handed the basement of the mosque over to Hindus to pray before idols that had allegedly been locked up there for years.
Muslims still pray on the ground floor of the mosque every day and gather in large numbers for Friday prayers.
The mosque committee has approached the high court challenging the Hindu petitioners’ plea on the ground that it runs counter to a 1991 law that forbids the conversion of any religious structure into that of another religion, barring the Ramjanmabhoomi-Babri Masjid.
The Supreme Court is currently hearing challenges to the constitutionality of this law, the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act 1991.