Former Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud’s remarks about the Places of Worship Act in May 2022 “opened a Pandora’s Box”, Congress MP Jairam Ramesh said on Saturday.
In May 2022, Chandrachud had said that although the Places of Worship Act prevented the nature of a religious place from being changed, merely ascertaining the religious character of a place would not violate the law.
The 1991 Places of Worship Act prohibits any changes to the religious character of a place of worship in independent India. The only exception to the law was the site of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya, where a Ram temple is now being built following a Supreme Court.
Ramesh on Saturday referred to a speech by author and former Rajya Sabha MP Rajmohan Gandhi from September 1991 about a bill that went on to become the Places of Worship Act. Gandhi had then said that a key lesson from the Hindu epic Mahabharata was that “those who seek to right the wrongs of history with an attitude of revenge will only produce destruction and more destruction and more destruction”.
Ramesh said on Saturday that Gandhi’s speech was “a masterclass in Indian culture, traditions, history, and politics as well”.
The Congress on Friday said that it was firmly committed to the Places of Worship Act, PTI reported. It alleged that the law was being “violated brazenly” by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.
The Congress’ remarks came in the context of court cases heard in the past week involving the Ajmer Dargah in Rajasthan and the Shahi Jama Masjid in Uttar Pradesh’s Sambhal district.
A Rajasthan court on Wednesday admitted a petition claiming that the shrine of 13th-century Sufi saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti in Ajmer was built over a Shiva temple.
The suit filed by Hindu Sena chief Vishnu Gupta seeks directions that the Ajmer Sharif Dargah be declared as Bhagwan Shri Sankatmochan Mahadev Virajman temple.
The court order came days after a trial court in Uttar Pradesh’s Sambhal on November 19 allowed an application asking for Hindus to be given access to and survey the Shahi Jama Masjid in the town of Chandausi.
The petitioners claim that the mosque was built in 1526 by Mughal ruler Babar on the site of the “centuries old Shri Hari Har Temple dedicated to Lord Kalki”.
On November 24, violence eruoted during protests against the survey of the mosque, leaving five persons dead.
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