Nothing succeeds like directness. The Vishva Hindu Parishad, which initiated the Ram Janmabhoomi movement, must believe this since it has now asked the committee administering the Gyanvapi mosque in Varanasi to move the mosque out of the compound it shares with the Kashi Vishwanath temple so the premises are restored, according to its demand, to the temple to which they originally ‘belonged’. The VHP insists that Aurangzeb destroyed a ‘magnificent’ Hindu temple to build the mosque over it. The case was being heard in a district court, which had ordered the Archaeological Survey of India to inspect the premises in search of evidence. The Places of Worship (Special Provision) Act, however, forbids alteration of the religious character of any place of worship from what it was on August 15, 1947, the only exception being the Babri masjid. The district court’s order was thus disconcerting. Even though the VHP’s confidence has been bolstered by the ASI survey that has found objects of Hindu provenance, the Gyanvapi committee has rejected the report, saying that the ASI found the detritus from the shops of sculptors close by. This refreshing persistence is unlike the noises emanating from segments of the Muslim intelligentsia that advocated a conciliatory approach in the Babri masjid case.

The Bharatiya Janata Party, as in the initial stages of the Ram Janmabhoomi movement, appears to be maintaining a disinterested distance, saying that the Varanasi matter as well as Mathura’s Shahi Idgah mosque issue are in the courts. The BJP president said that the court and Constitution shall decide. Besides, the triumphalism around the consecration ceremony of the Ram temple in Ayodhya was occasionally punctuated with comments inviting compassion, inclusivity and restraint, most noticeably from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief. All of which is promising, if only there had been no BJP leader such as Giriraj Singh who said that since the evidence was ‘out’ now, ‘communal harmony’ would suffer if the mosque management did not hand over the space to the Hindus. He also mentioned that Varanasi and Mathura had always been on the ‘agenda’ — of what? The VHP-organised build-up in the Gyanvapi issue seems to be clearing the way for another temple frenzy before the elections. The BJP may join the push later, as in the Ram temple sequence. This mirroring is ominous, but as the government now, the BJP should end it here.