Decoded: What is the controversy over Varanasi’s Gyanvapi Masjid?

Gyanvapi Masjid adjacent to the Kashi Vishwanath Mandir in Varanasi is at the centre of a multi-layered legal battle. What is it all about?

Gyanvapi Masjid adjacent to the Kashi Vishwanath Mandir in Varanasi is at the centre of a multi-layered legal battle. A Varanasi court directed the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to probe the structure of the Gyanvapi Masjid. Petitioner Rastogi, as representative of deity Swayambhu Jyotirling Bhagwan Vishweshwar, sought an archaeological survey of the Gyanvapi Masjid. He claimed illegality in the construction of the Gyanvapi Masjid. It is on fresh hearing of Rastogi’s petition that the Varanasi court in April this year ordered survey of the Gyanvapi Masjid’s structure. The Varanasi court directed the ASI to constitute a five-member committee of experts to carry out the survey and submit its report. The Uttar Pradesh Sunni Central Waqf Board and the Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Committee that runs the Gyanvapi Masjid contested the petition by Rastogi. They also opposed the Varanasi court’s order for survey of the Gyanvapi Masjid. The Supreme Court said in its judgment that the Places of Worship Act was “a legislative intervention” that preserved “non-retrogression as an essential feature of our secular values”. However, in March this year, a Supreme Court bench headed by then CJI SA Bobde agreed to examine the validity of the Places of Worship Act. It issued notice to the central government seeking response on the legal validity of the 1991 Act brought by the PV Narasimha Rao government. However, some historians have said the mosque was built in the 14th century by a Sharqi Sultan of Jaunpur (Uttar Pradesh). The Sharqi ruler had ordered the demolition of the Kashi Vishwanath Mandir, they say. Some other historians say the Kashi Vishwanath Mandir was actually built or rebuilt during the time of Mughal emperor Akbar, whose minister Todarmal got the temple constructed. Todarmal is said to have asked Narayan Bhat, an expert from South India, to supervise the construction of the Kashi Vishwanath Mandir. There is another viewpoint that both Kashi Vishwanath Mandir and the Gyanvapi Masjid were constructed by Akbar to further his religious experiment, Din-e-Ilahi. The Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Committee, in-charge of the Gyanvapi Masjid, has maintained this stand. The Allahabad High Court on Thursday, however, ordered an interim stay on the Varanasi court’s directive to the ASI. And, there is a bunch of petitions before the Supreme Court that may have a bearing on the Gyanvapi Masjid-Kashi Vishwanath Mandir dispute.