Replace mosques with temples in Mathura, Varanasi: Togadia

Antarashtriya Hindu Parishad (AHP) chief, Pravin Togadia has called for replacing all mosques with temples in Mathura, Ayodhya and Varanasi.

Pointing at the almost-constructed Ram temple in Ayodhya, Togadia asserted that “now was the time of Mathura and Kashi.”

The firebrand leader was addressing a public meeting in Badaun on Friday, November 24, as part of his tour in Uttar Pradesh. Praveen Togadia is known for his communally charged anti-Muslim speeches.

Stating that the Ram temple was constructed in Ayodhya with the blessings of Ram, Togadia sloganeered, “Ayodhya Mathura Vishwanath, teeno lenge ek sath” (will take all three together), referring to mosques in Mathura and Varanasi.

In Sonipat, Haryana

On November 22, Togadia delivered another speech in Haryana’s Sonipat, claiming that Muslims were taking over parks and posing a threat to businesses. Furthermore, he peddles conspiracy theories about “growing Muslim population posing a threat.”

Notably, the Ayodhya temple is a few kilometres away from the Ayodhya Mosque.

India’s majority of Hindus say the site was the birthplace of Lord Ram and was holy to them long before Muslim Mughals razed a temple at the spot and built the Babri mosque there in 1528.

A Hindu mob destroyed the mosque in 1992, triggering riots that killed about 2,000 people across India, most of them Muslims.

Building a Ram temple at the site has been a central, campaign theme of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for more than three decades.

Hindu and Muslim groups have fought over ownership of the site through India’s courts. In 2019, the Supreme Court handed over the land to Hindus and ordered the allotment of a separate plot to Muslims.

Muslim groups were not happy with the verdict but said they would accept it ‘with humility’. While the opening of the temple is scheduled already, the construction of the mosque is yet to begin.