Skip to main content

'Hand over Gyanwapi to Hindus, take assurance structure won't be demolished'

By A Representative 

Several pro-BJP Muslim intellectuals have insisted on the need to "amicably settle the Gyanwapi mosque impasse", insisting, "Muslims mustn’t repeat the mistake they made in the Ram Mandir case."
Calling themselves moderate Muslims, and forming Gyanwapi Reconciliation Committee, those who have sought conciliation include Firoz Bakht Ahmed, former chancellor of the Maulana Azad National Urdu University; Prof SN Pathan, former vice-chancellor of the Nagpur University; and Tanvir Ahmed, former Haj Committee chairman.
They have urged urged Muslims not to repeat the mistake committed at the time of the Ram Mandir standoff by their "adamant behaviour", which was allegedly guided by the All-India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB), whose attitude was "unbending and fissiparous".
Claiming that the AIMPLB doesn’t represent the Muslim community, they said in a statement, "Instead of indulging in unserviceable litigation, both the communities must join heads together to sort the contentious issue out of court and avoid any kind of belligerence or pouring out on the streets."
According to them, "Had the Muslims, with their large heartedness in reverence of Maryada Purushottam Lord Rama, offered/gifted his birthplace to the Hindu brethren, not only that this gesture would have cemented the mutual understanding and goodwill among both the communities for all time to come but would have guided the nation on the fast track of becoming the Vishw Guru (Leader of the World)."
Firoz Bakht Ahmed
Stating that the Gyanwapi issue is a "gilt-edged opportunity to make amends for the lost Ayodhya chance by offering the two properties, that is Gyanwapi and Mathura, to Hindu brethren to continue their worship, with a request that the structures be not demolished", the statement said, this would help "seal" on all other disputes, including Taj, Qutub Minar, Jama Masjid etc.
They further said, Muslims should apologize "for the excesses done unto Hindu community by all the rulers of the Sultanate and Mughal dynasty, especially Aurangzeb, who had desecrated and destroyed the temples, murdered his own brothers Dara Shikoh, imprisoned his father, butchered Guru Tegh Bahadur, beheaded four sons of Guru Govind Singh."
"If this happens", they asserted, "This would placate the frayed tempers of the Hindu community, resulting in concord and mutual harmony, besides seeking an assurance on behalf of the Hindus to take back the 44,000 odd cases round the nation against mosques, shrines khanqahs, that were built on Hindu temples."
They warned, "If Muslims keep on being adamant and unwavering, they would not just the lose Gyanwapi or Mathura but much more."

Comments

TRENDING

The farmer's burden: How oil, war, and climate are rewriting the price of food

By Vikas Meshram   The scorching flames of the Middle East conflict are now slowly reaching the kitchens of ordinary people. The true price of this war is paid in daily markets, vegetable shops, and in the shattered minds of farmers. Expensive crude oil, skyrocketing fertilizer prices, and rising agricultural costs are together creating the conditions for global food inflation — and this crisis is directly tied to what people eat and drink every day.

India's nuclear euphoria: The hard economics policymakers ignore

By Shankar Sharma*  There is a sort of newfound euphoria sweeping India with respect to nuclear power — and in particular, Small Modular Reactors (SMRs). In political speeches, policy documents, and newspaper editorials, the word "nuclear" has acquired a fresh, almost romantic glow, as though a technology once synonymous with catastrophe at Chernobyl and Fukushima has been quietly reinvented.  To be sure, the challenges of climate change and India's growing electricity demand are real and urgent. But enthusiasm is not a substitute for analysis. A hard look at the global evidence, the domestic cost picture, and the practical hurdles of nuclear deployment raises questions that this national conversation urgently needs to confront.

Beyond the 'silent relocation' narrative in Bangladesh's Chittagong Hill Tracts

By Dr. Mohammad Asaduzzaman*  In recent years, a narrative has emerged from the rugged and forested terrain of the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT), portraying the region as the site of a “silent relocation” — a mass forced migration of Bangladesh’s non-Muslim ethnic communities into neighboring India and Myanmar.