After being allowed to worship in the basement of the Gyanvapi Mosque in Varanasi, members of a Hindu priest family have started worshipping there.
Following the demolition of the Babri Mosque and the seizure of another historic mosque by extremist Hindus, barriers that had been installed in the mosque’s basement 30 years ago were removed by the Uttar Pradesh government, following a court decision in Varanasi.
The court ruled that priests from the Kashi Vishwanath temple could conduct worship in the mosque. Soon after the decision, the priests went to the mosque’s basement, known as the ‘Vyas basement,’ and started worship at 3 am.
Heavy security has been deployed around the mosque to prevent any problems. Meanwhile, mosque authorities plan to challenge the court’s decision in the High Court.
The basement of the mosque was seized 30 years ago on orders from former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Mulayam Singh Yadav.
However, the Varanasi court ordered the barriers to be removed and Hindus allowed to worship in the mosque within a week of their installation.
