BJP MLA Neelkanth Tiwari cleans Alamgir mosque in Varanasi | Varanasi News

VARANASI: Voices of dissent started coming from Muslim religious bodies over the cleaning of the Archaeological Survey of India-protected Alamgir (Dharahara) mosque at Panchganga Ghat by Bharatiya Janata Party MLA from city south, Neelkanth Tiwari, and his supporters on Monday.
“The act of the MLA is highly objectionable. We have appealed to the Supreme Court to take note of this act of the MLA, which is the first repercussion of the passing of the Waqf Bill in parliament. Despite the matter of the new Waqf Act being heard in the SC, the ruling party leaders started showing high-handedness by entering a Waqf property without seeking permission from the authorities concerned,” said SM Yaseen, the Joint Secretary of Anjuman Intejamia Masajid (Gyanvapi mosque management committee). He claimed that the BJP MLA and his supporters entered the mosque with slippers on their feet, which is an insult to a religious site.
The series of events that kicked off the controversy started on Monday morning. Alamgir mosque’s caretaker, Rashid Ali, on Tuesday said, “I was sitting inside the mosque when the BJP MLA, along with around 20 supporters, entered the mosque compound without taking the pain of seeking permission from us. He started sweeping the mosque compound with the same broom used for street sweeping. It is unfair and insulting. We did not raise an objection immediately as we maintain cordial relations with local denizens and did not want to create any disturbance.”
The police guards, who were deployed for mosque security, did not show the courage to stop the MLA and his supporters from entering the mosque premises, said Yaseen, adding, “The MLA kept sweeping amidst the chanting of slogans by BJP supporters.”
On being contacted, Tiwari said, “Under the ongoing special cleanliness drive launched in view of the party’s foundation day celebration and the proposed arrival of the PM on April 11, cleaning of the area in Panchganga Ghat and adjoining areas by me and BJP cadres was scheduled on Monday. We noticed filth inside the mosque compound when we reached there and cleaned it.” The claims that we did not take off the slippers are incorrect, said Tiwari, showing videos of their entry into the mosque. He said that the cleanliness was done only on the outer platform of the mosque.
While Ali said that the matter was forwarded to senior religious authorities and clerics to decide the future course of action, Yaseen said, “We are trying to bring the matter to the knowledge of the SC through the advocates pursuing the cases challenging the Waqf Act there.”
This is not the first instance of controversy with the Alamgir mosque. With the intensification of the Ram Janambhumi movement in the ’90s, the saffron brigade started highlighting the issue of this mosque by referring to history and claiming that the Bindu Madhav temple of Lord Vishnu existed at the top of the Panchaganga Ghat along the river Ganga, which was also destroyed like Kashi Vishwanath by Mughal emperor Aurangzeb, and a mosque was set up at the same spot on the ruins of the Bindu Madhav temple.
In 2002, some local residents of Panchaganga Ghat formed the Beni Madhav Darahara Bachao Samiti to raise their voices against the alleged misuse of the national monument by some members of the minority community.
Saffron band activists also made attempts to hoist the national tricolour at this monument on the occasion of Independence Day and Republic Day between 1997 and 2014, but their bids were foiled by the police. In May 2022, five persons also filed a petition in the court of the civil judge (junior division) to seek rights of worshipping at the Bindu Madhav temple.
Regarding disputes and petitions filed in the case of the Alamgir mosque, Ali denied having any information by mentioning, “We never appeared before any court.”