Ahead of HC's Gyanvapi survey verdict, Yogi asks Muslims to 'correct historical mistakes'

Samajwadi Party's Swami Prasad Maurya slammed the comments and said that they are meant to create controversy.

Barely three days before the much awaited verdict of the Allahabad high court on the petition seeking a stay on a Varanasi court's order for a scientific survey of the Gyanvapi Mosque premises by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath virtually endorsed the claims of the Hindu litigants and asked the Muslim community to ''correct the historical mistakes''.

In an interview to a private TV news agency as part of a podcast, Adityanath said that the country would be governed by the Constitution and not by any religion, apparently referring to the proposal on the Uniform Civil Code (UCC), which was opposed by the Muslim clerics and leaders.

''There will be a dispute if I call Gyanvapi a mosque....those who have been given sight by the God should see....what's a trident doing inside a mosque?.....we didn't keep it there...the walls (of Gyanvapi) are creaming....there is Jyotirlinga, there are many idols,'' the saffron clad chief minister said.

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Apparently suggesting that the Muslims should give up their claim on Gyanvapi Mosque, Adityanath said that a proposal should be made from the Muslim community that a ''historical mistake'' had been committed and that it should be 'corrected'.

In reply to another question, he said that the country would be governed by the Constitution and not by any religion. ''I am a disciple of God but I don't believe in hypocrisy....your religion is within your home....it's not for demonstrating on the streets..not for imposing on others,'' he added.

''You will have to keep the nation first and not your religion if you want to live in the country,'' Adityanath said.

While the seers have welcome Adityanath's remarks saying that the fight for Gyanvapi has been lingering for quite long and that the Muslims should take the initiative, Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Swami Prasad Maurya slammed the comments and said that they are meant to create controversy.

The Allahabad court is likely to deliver its verdict on the petition filed by the Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Committee, which looked after the Gyanvapi Mosque, seeking a stay on the Varanasi court's order for an ASI survey of the Mosque, on Thursday.

The premises had been a bone of contention between the two communities for the past several decades but there was renewed clamor to ''take back'' the Kashi Vishwanath Temple premises by the saffron outfits after the favourable decision of the apex court in the Ram Temple case.

The Hindu petitioners contended that a part of the temple had been demolished by the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb in the 17th century. The Muslim side contended that the Mosque existed before the reign of Aurangzeb and also claimed that the same had also been mentioned in the land records.