BHOPAL: The Supreme Court will hear on Thursday a plea by the Hindu Front for Justice (HFJ) seeking exclusive right for Hindus to offer prayers on Basant Panchami in the disputed Bhojshala Temple-Kamal Maula Mosque complex in Dhar district of western Madhya Pradesh.
Representing the HFJ, advocate Vishnu Shankar Jain had filed the plea regarding the matter on January 2, 2026. Jain appealed to the court on Tuesday for an urgent hearing, after which the SC listed the matter for hearing on Thursday, January 22. The concerned festival, Basant Panchami, falls on Friday.
"The April 7, 2003, order of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) doesn’t cover the eventuality of Basant Panchami falling on a Friday, which is why we have moved an application praying for an exclusive right of uninterrupted worship for the Hindus the entire day (January 23, 2026). Owing to possible communal tension, I appeal that the application filed on January 2 be listed and heard," Jain submitted before the apex court on Tuesday.
Around 23 years back, the ASI (which conserves the disputed complex) had issued an order allowing Muslims to access the monument’s premises for the Friday Namaz between 1 pm and 3 pm. The same order also granted Hindus the permission to hold traditional ceremonies in the same premises on Basant Panchami every year, along with exclusive access to the complex every Tuesday.
The 2003 order, however, did not specify what must be done if Basant Panchami coincides with Friday Namaz.
In the last 25 years, Basant Panchami has reportedly coincided with Friday prayers thrice, including 2006, 2013 and 2016. Ahead of the Basant Panchami in all those years, the ASI had come out in advance with orders, allowing the Muslim community access to the premises for Friday Namaz from 1 pm to 3 pm and permitting the Hindus to observe the Basant Panchami from sunrise to 12 noon and again from 3.30 pm to sunset. The order also clearly mentioned that the Hindu devotees shall only take a handful of flowers and rice for the purpose of their offerings.
While orders mentioning about the coinciding events of Basant Panchami and Friday Namaz in the previous years was issued 4-13 days in advance, the ASI is yet to issue the relevant order this time, despite Basant Panchami being just two days away.
Owing to absence of a fresh ASI order for January 23, the Supreme Court hearing on HFJ’s application, a day before the Hindu festival becomes more crucial.
Meanwhile, in the communally sensitive Dhar town of western MP’s Dhar district, both Hindus and Muslims are sticking to their stands.
With January 20 being the last Tuesday before Basant Panchami, the Hindus offered prayers at the complex in unprecedentedly large numbers (in thousands) on Tuesday, four days after the Muslims too had offered Namaz at the same complex in significantly increased numbers.
“We’ve given the call for akhand puja (uninterrupted worship). They (Muslims) often say that maintaining peace is sacred to them, then why can’t they offer prayers at the other 24 mosques in Dhar, to ensure that we perform uninterrupted prayers at Bhojshala on the coming Basant Panchami throughout the day. They (Muslims) have around 50 Fridays in a year, but we’ve only one Basant Panchami annually,” said Gopal Sharma, who as the head of Shri Maharaja Bhoj Seva Sansthan Samiti has been crusading the cause of Hindus on the issue since 1991.
On the other hand, the Muslim side is also sticking to its previous stand. “Friday namaz was conducted at the concerned site in the previous years also when Basant Panchami coincided with Friday. Then why will we not offer the Friday Namaz in the two hours on January 23. Our community has always abided by law and will continue to do. Just like previous years (when Basant Panchami fell on Friday), we’ll offer symbolic namaz at the complex on January 23,” said Zulfiqar Pathan, the Sadar of Kamal Maula Mosque Namaz Intezamia Committee. The Muslim leaders had a meeting with top administrative brass, including Indore Divisional Commissioner Sudam Khade and Dhar district collector Priyank Mishra on Monday, where they assured to abide by official orders.
Congress MP and former CM Digvijaya Singh urged the authorities to enforce ASI directives to maintain communal harmony in the district.
"This year, the festival of Basant Panchami is falling on a Friday. This has happened earlier as well, and in accordance with the decision of the central government, the Dhar district administration had then made arrangements to celebrate it peacefully with the cooperation of both communities," he said, referring to the arrangements made in 2003, 2013, and 2016.
"In this situation, it is the responsibility of the government and the administration to ensure full compliance with the orders passed by the ASI and to make every effort to maintain peace and harmony in Dhar, taking strict action against those who spread communal hatred or rumours," Singh wrote in a social media post on Wednesday.
The Congress leader also appealed to members of both Hindu and Muslim communities to maintain peace and harmony, stating that Madhya Pradesh has long been a symbol of communal amity. "I appeal to all Hindu and Muslim brothers to maintain communal harmony. Our state is a symbol of peace, and it is the moral responsibility of the government and the administration to establish and uphold this peace through legal means."
While the Basant Panchami in 2016 had reportedly passed off relatively peacefully (except some stray incidents in the town in the evening), despite the Hindu groups opposing the permission of Friday Namaz to Muslims for two hours in the afternoon the same, three years before it there was significant tension on Basant Panchami on February 15, 2013, following clashes between Hindu groups and the cops.
As per a senior police officer (currently posted at the state PHQ, but then deployed in Dhar), the police had to thrice use force to disperse activists of saffron outfits since the morning till the evening on February 15, 2013, as they were hell-bent at taking inside the monument articles not permitted by the ASI or either taking law in hands to oppose entry of the Muslim Namazis inside the premises during the stipulated two hours period.
Keeping in mind the previous incidents, the police and administration are on the highest alert, as both sides are sticking to their stands.
According to IG-Indore Range, Anurag, "Around 8000 state police personnel and four companies (around 400 personnel) of the Rapid Action Force – the CRPF’s swift response anti-riot force have arrived in Dhar town and flag-marched in the town also. Sector wise security arrangements will be in place to ensure that January 23 passes off peacefully. A network of CCTV cameras is being installed around the town, particularly in the spots identified as sensitive. Entire situation will be monitored real-time through a central command room on Basant Panchami."
Importantly, the centuries-old Bhojshala Temple-Kamal Maulana Mosque is an ASI protected monument. While the Hindus claim that it houses the 11th century Temple dedicated to Goddess Vagdevi (Saraswati), the Muslims consider it to be the Kamal Maula Mosque built between the 13th and 14th centuries.
Submitting that Muslim invaders built the “Mosque” by demolishing-dismantling the ancient structure of the previously constructed temple, the Hindu Front for Justice (HFJ) petitioned the Indore Bench of MP High Court in May 2022, demanding that only Hindus be allowed to pray at the complex.
On March 11, 2024, the MPHC in Indore, while hearing the HFJ’s plea, ordered the ASI to conduct detailed scientific study (including GPR and GIS survey) to understand the true character of the ancient monument and submit a complete report to the court. The Muslim side subsequently moved the Supreme Court seeking a stay on the HC’s March 11, 2024 order.
While not staying the ASI survey ordered by the MP HC, the apex court on March 11, 2024, ordered that no action should be taken on the outcome of the survey and no physical excavation be undertaken which will alter the character of Bhojshala Temple cum Kamal Maula Mosque at Dhar District, Madhya Pradesh.
On July 4, the MPHC in Indore gave the ASI time till July 15 to submit the detailed report of the study (conducted for 98 days starting from March 22, 2024). The ASI subsequently submitted in the HC its 2000-page voluminous report containing the detailed findings of the 98-days scientific survey carried out at the Bhojshala Temple-Kamal Maula Mosque complex.
Since July 2024 only, the MP High Court is waiting for the apex court’s directions for hearing the findings of the ASI survey of the disputed complex, as the top court has since July 2024 stayed hearing on the ASI survey report.