RSS won’t get involved in Kashi, Mathura temple movements, but members free to join: Mohan Bhagwat

Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat on Thursday said that while the organisation itself will not join any movement to “reclaim” the Gyanvapi mosque in Varanasi and the Shahi Idgah mosque in Mathura, its members were free to participate in their individual capacity, The Print reported.

Bhagwat was speaking at a lecture series marking the RSS’ centenary, during which he outlined the organisation’s views on India and its future. The RSS is the parent organisation of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.

He was referring to the ongoing court cases in which Hindu litigants have sought to bar Muslims from praying at the Gyanvapi mosque at Varanasi, also known as Kashi, and the Shahi Idgah at Mathura.

The Hindu litigants have claimed that an oval-shaped object found on the Gyanvapi mosque premises in May 2022 is a shivling, a representation of the Hindu deity Shiva. However, the caretaker committee of the mosque has maintained that the object was a defunct fountainhead in the wazu khana, or ablution tank.

The plaintiffs in the Shahi Idgah case have claimed that the site is the birthplace of the Hindu deity Krishna.

On Thursday, Bhagwat said that the RSS would not lead such campaigns.

“The only movement which we joined was the Ram mandir which we supported fully and took it to the end,” The Indian Express quoted...

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