BHOPAL: The prime petitioner, Hindu Front for Justice’s (HFJ) Dhar district president Ashish Goyal, welcomed the Madhya Pradesh High Court's declaration that the long-disputed site of the Bhojshala complex and Kamal Maula Mosque in Dhar is a temple of the goddess Saraswathi.
He, however, appealed to the Hindu community in Dhar and elsewhere, not to carry out any victory/celebratory procession, burst firecrackers and refrain from offensive or indecent language/conduct with anyone.
He instead appealed to the Hindu community to light a diya (earthen lamp) in their houses in the evening and offer prayers to goddess Saraswati in support of the legal win in the High Court.
Young advocate Vishnu Shankar Jain, who led the Hindu Front for Justice (HFJ) in the legal battle, said, “Friday’s MP High Court verdict is the most historic decision since the Supreme Court’s 2019 final verdict in the Ayodhya Ram Temple case. Except for our HFJ petition (2022) and Kuldeep Tiwari’s petition, all other petitions, including those filed by the Muslim side and the Jain side, have been dismissed.”
Hailing the court verdict, the senior-most cabinet minister in Dr Mohan Yadav's government and minister-in-charge for Dhar district, Kailash Vijayvargiya, said, “It’s a golden moment in our history, symbolising cultural awakening and a proud moment for the Sanatan society and traditions.”
Gopal Sharma, the Hindu leader who has been waging a battle for the Hindu side for decades, broke into tears of joy in Dhar town outside the Bhojshala complex.
“These are tears of joy which depict our Tapasya (penance) of centuries. We dedicate this historic moment to all those who sacrificed their lives for the cause of Bhojshala-Saraswati Temple.”
The Muslim side expressed dissatisfaction over the verdict. “The High Court has held that the complex is a temple and the state government has been asked to allot land to Muslims for a mosque elsewhere in Dhar. We aren’t satisfied with the court’s verdict and will certainly move to the Supreme Court to challenge it. The HC primarily based its verdict on the faulty ASI survey report; we’ll challenge it in the apex court,” they said.
AIMIM president and Lok Sabha member Asaduddin Owaisi was also dissatisfied with the MPHC order.
“We hope the Supreme Court will set this right and overturn the order. Glaring similarities with the Babri Masjid judgment,” Owaisi posted on X.
In MP capital Bhopal, Congress’s second-time MLA Arif Masood said, “The MPHC Indore Bench’s order is based on the ASI survey report of 2024, which is faulty. We’ll move to the Supreme Court and challenge the HC’s order.”
Priya Jain, the counsel for the Jain community, said, “The archaeological remains in the complex include idols of Jain tirthankars. Even the Court has accepted that the Goddess Saraswati idol in the museum in London is of the Jain Samaj, but still, they’ve dismissed our petition. We’ll move the Supreme Court in the matter, demanding that idols of the Jain religion get their due place in the temple.”
With the April 2003 Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) order allowing Muslims to offer namaz at the complex in Dhar on Friday, a heavy police force had been deployed around the entire Bhojshala-Kamal Maula Mosque complex in Dhar town of Dhar district on Friday.
The Court, which was to initially pronounce the verdict in the morning, later decided to deliver the important judgment in the afternoon, when the Muslims had offered namaz at the concerned site in a peaceful manner amid heavy police security.
