Image Courtesy: PTI
“Ayodhya Babri sirf Jhaanki hai, Kashi-Mathura ab baaki hai”, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Vinay Katiyar has stirred the pot by openly declaring to pursue the ‘unfinished agenda’ of Kashi and Mathura once the verdict on the Ayodhya land dispute is out, reported News18.
Speaking to the channel he said, “We are waiting for the Supreme court verdict. After that, we will build the Ram temple in Ayodhya and then will also move towards liberating the Kashi and Mathura temples”.
This statement by Katiyar has come at a time when all the leaders across the country, including the ones from the BJP and its ally Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) are employing maximum restraint with regards to commenting on the uber-sensitive matter in a pursuit to maintain ‘communal peace and harmony’.
Katiyar is one of the core members who propounded the Ram Janmabhoomi movement. He is the founder of the Bajrang Dal, who at a point in time did get impatient with the BJP government’s lax attitude in get the Ram temple built in Ayodhya.
Katiyar has been one of the leading figures of the Ram Temple movement and was indicted in the demolishing of Babri Masjid on December 6, 1992, along with other prominent politicians like senior BJP leaders LK Advani, Uma Bharti, Murli Manohar Joshi and Kalyan Singh.
It is not just Katiyar, but also other Hindutva preaching allies of the BJP like the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and the RSS who have seen Kashi and Mathura as a part of the extended agenda to Hinduise the nation.
Even the All India Akhara Parishad (AIAP), an apex body of seers in the country, in October said that it would launch a movement to get the mosques adjoining the Kashi Vishwanath Temple in Varanasi and Shrikrishna Janambhoomi in Mathura once the Ram Temple was built, the Deccan Herald reported.
”Like the Babri Masjid, temples were also demolished at Kashi and Mathura to build mosques….the mosques must be demolished,” AIAP president Mahant Narendra Giri said.
Katiyar, also known as ‘Bajrangi’ had earlier said that the blood, sweat, tears and prayers of the millions of people who have sacrificed their lives for the cause of the temple won’t go in vain. He also mocked the Suni Waqf board’s statement about wanting to withdraw its case provided the Hindus agreed to give up their claim on the Kashi and Mathura temples. Speaking to Hindustan Times he said, “I don’t know if the Sunni Waqf Board was actually serious about its offer, but at this moment any such talk about any issue other than Ram temple at Ayodhya is a diversionary tactic.”
Katiyar has been in the news for his hate speech targeting religious minorities. Last year, in an interview he had said that Muslims have “no business being in India” and that they should go and live in Pakistan or Bangladesh. He has also blamed Muslims for partition and demanded strict action against those who don’t respect Vande Mataram or the Indian flag.
He is the same person who also recommended that the Taj Mahal, be demolished adding that the temple Tejo Mahal exist in its place.
While everyone is trying to keep their peace and maintain harmony in the matter of the verdict, Katiyar’s deeply insinuating remarks just go to show the greed of the pig-headedness of the right-wing to grab every opportunity they get to spread their tentacles of hatred and expand their fascist ideology.
Related:
SC dismisses petition challenging demolitions around Gyanvapi Mosque in Varanasi
Kashi, Mathura Mosques on Hindutva’s hit list but that’s not all as India inches towards the Rashtra
Who’s Rashtra Is it Anyway?
The Taj Mahal will soon be known as ‘Tej Mandir’: Vinay Katiyar