VARANASI: In compliance with court instructions, prayers were held inside the Gyanvapi mosque‘s cellar on Wednesday night, according to Nagendra Pandey, president of the Kashi Vishwanath temple trust. An important milestone in the legal dispute over the mosque next to the Kashi Vishwanath temple occurred earlier on Wednesday when the district court decided that a priest might offer prayers in front of the idols in the Gyanvapi Masjid’s crypt. Approximately 10.30 p.m. on Wednesday, according to Pandey, “Vyas ji’s cellar was opened after 31 years for prayers.” “Yes,” he said when asked if prayers were conducted in the basement. “It was necessary to follow the court’s orders, so the district administration made all the arrangements with great promptness,” Pandey said. Stated District Magistrate S Rajlingam, “I have followed the court’s directive.” According to some villagers, a ‘aarti’ involving Goddess Lakshmi and Lord Ganesh was done following the cellar’s cleansing. According to district administration officials, the barricades in front of the Nandi monument facing the mosque’s “wazukhana” were taken down at approximately 9:30 p.m. on Wednesday after the Kashi-Vishwanath Trust members were contacted. The municipal government was instructed by the court to set up prayers in the cellar within a week. It stated that “proper arrangements” with metal barricades at the complex will be necessary for this. Akhilesh Yadav, the president of the Samajwadi Party, took aim at the Yogi Adityanath government in the state, claiming that the BJP’s hurry in obeying court decisions is an attempt to thwart any legal action. “Any court order must be followed while upholding due process. A seven-day period was set by the Varanasi Court for it (making arrangements). Yadav stated on X that “what we are witnessing right now is a deliberate attempt to circumvent due process and thwart any potential legal action.” A day after an Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) study on the mosque complex was made public, Judge A K Vishvesha issued his ruling. According to the ASI survey, which the same court ordered in relation to a related case, the mosque was built on the ruins of a Hindu temple during Aurangzeb’s reign. The order on Wednesday was granted based on a request by Shailendra Kumar Pathak, who stated that, according to Hindu side lawyer Madan Mohan Yadav, his maternal grandfather, priest Somnath Vyas, gave prayers till December 1993. Pathak added that after the Ayodhya Babri Mosque was destroyed on December 6, 1992, the puja was discontinued during the administration of former chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav. The Muslim parties refuted the petitioner’s account throughout the hearing. It stated that since there were no gods in the cellar, prayers couldn’t be said there until 1993. The Varanasi court had already ordered on January 17 that the district magistrate assume responsibility for the cellar. However, at that time, it had not provided guidance regarding the right to pray there. Mumtaz Ahmed, the Muslim side’s representative, stated: “Today, the district judge rendered a final decision, granting Hindus the ability to practise their religion. We will now challenge this ruling in the High Court.”
