While the moulding of the historically multireligious Varanasi’s image as a purely Hindu centre was a colonial scheme, pushing the Gyanvapi mosque case forward is part of the Hindutva project of sectarian hegemony. The renowned writer Mark Twain had said that Varanasi is ‘older than history, older than tradition, older even than legend’. Mishra stated that many of the slogans that had been raised following the so-called discovery of the Shivling were farcical. And yet portions of the report seem to have been leaked and made their way into the mainstream media and social media. This is especially so because several pleas from the Hindu side on both Gyanvapi and the Mathura Srikrishna janmasthan cases have openly called for the removal or demolition of the mosque.

Source: The Hindu June 03, 2022 10:23 UTC