The “handmaiden of Hindutva” jab at ASI’s Gyanvapi survey report by Asaduddin Owaisi

Asaduddin Owaisi, the president of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), criticized the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) report on Thursday. The petitioners, who are from Hindi, claimed that a sizable Hindu temple predated the building of the Gyanvapi Masjid, which is situated next to the Kashi Vishwanath temple in Varanasi. They cited the report in their argument. Owaisi called the group the “handmaiden of Hindutva” and said the paper was based on speculation, making a mockery of scientific research.

Owaisi said, “This wouldn’t stand academic scrutiny before any set of professional archaeologists or historians,” in a post on X (previously Twitter). The report trivializes scientific research and is based purely on speculation. A distinguished academic once said, “ASI is the handmaiden of Hindutva.”

According to Vishnu Shankar Jain, the lawyer for the Hindu side in the Gyanvapi Masjid-Kashi Vishwanath temple issue, the ASI discovered vestiges of a sizable Hindu temple within the mosque on Thursday. Minutes after the 839-page study was sent to the Muslim and Hindu sides, Jain also made it public, against the court’s order prohibiting either party from disclosing the report’s specifics to the public.

The investigation concluded that there had previously been a Hindu temple “based on scientific studies/survey carried out, the study of architectural remains, exposed features, and artifacts, inscriptions, art, and sculptures.”

The narrative went on to say that Aurangzeb, the Mughal emperor, was responsible for the temple’s destruction. An Arabic-Persian inscription discovered inside a chamber states that the mosque was constructed during the 20th year of Aurangzeb’s reign. According to the assessment, part of the pre-existing construction was altered and repurposed in the current structure, and it seems that it was demolished during Aurangzeb’s reign in the 17th century.

It went on to say that the mosque was constructed using repurposed bell-adorned pillars, light niches, and temple inscriptions.

The ASI assessment said, “This pre-existing structure can be identified as a Hindu temple based on art and architecture.”

The Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Committee, in charge of overseeing the Gyanvapi mosque, said that it had not yet had a chance to review the ASI assessment.

The Gyanvapi controversy goes back many years, but in August 2021, five women petitioned a local court, requesting the freedom to worship at the Maa Shringar Gauri Sthal, which is within the compound that contains Hindu deity icons, without interference.

The disputed assessment of the Gyanvapi mosque was conducted by the ASI after an order from the district court in July of last year to ascertain if the mosque was built over a Hindu temple’s pre-existing construction.

The Muslim side maintained that the building discovered was a ceremonial ablution fountain, while the Hindu side said the 17th-century mosque was built over an earlier temple and that a shivling was discovered during the latter hours of the exercise. The supreme court’s instructions keep the region shut.