Surrender of mosques out of question, says Babri panel

NEW DELHI, SEPT 14: Babri Masjid Movement Coordination Committee (BMMCC) convenor Syed Shahabuddin on Tuesday described the reported clai...

NEW DELHI, SEPT 14: Babri Masjid Movement Coordination Committee (BMMCC) convenor Syed Shahabuddin on Tuesday described the reported claim by Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Prof Rajendra Singh that no Muslim has offered namaz at the disputed sites of Ayodhya, Mathura and Kashi as "blatantly false" and said there was no question of "voluntary surrender of any mosque" by the Muslim community.

"The fact is that Muslims offered namaz in the Babri Masjid right up to the night of 22-23 December, 1949, and were forced to keep out by the unfair order of the administration, till it was demolished on December 6, 1992," Shahabuddin said in a statement here.

He further stated that the Gyanvapi Mosque (adjoining Vishwanath temple) in Varanasi and the Shahi Idgah Masjid (adjoining Krishna Janmabhoomi temple) in Mathura were functional even on Tuesday and namaz is regularly offered therein.

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Stating that both the structures were fully protected by the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991, he said, "there is no question of voluntary surrender of any masjid by the Muslim community, even if Prof Singh’s assertion that around 3,000 Hindu temples were demolished by the Muslim rulers is taken at its face value."

He, however, said the BMMCC was not surprised by the demand for handover of the structures by the RSS chief. Prof Singh alias Raju Bhaiyya had at a meeting in Lucknow on Sunday reportedly urged Muslims to hand over the three "temples" to the Hindus to "bring a permanent peace to vexed Hindu-Muslim relationship."

Meanwhile, the Congress on Tuesday dared the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to distance itself from the RSS after its chief made an open call to the Muslims to hand over Ayodhya, Kashi and Mathura shrines to the RSS-VHP combine.

Talking to newspersons here Congress spokesperson Kapil Sibal said the call ran contrary to the charter of National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and maintained that the real security risk to the country is posed by the Sangh Parivar including the RSS, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and the Bajrang Dal. "These organisations shielded notorious criminals like Dara Singh who is now on a killing spree in Orissa,” he alleged.