A district court in Varanasi on Friday is expected to pass an order on a plea by four women petitioners to open the sealed report of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) on the Gyanvapi mosque complex and provide the parties with a copy each. The ASI, which filed the report on December 18, urged the court on Wednesday to postpone the disclosure of its findings by four weeks. If the ASI report is unsealed, it will likely have a political impact weeks before the Ayodhya Ram Temple is inaugurated on January 22. In context: The court on July 21 last year ordered a scientific survey of the mosque complex to ascertain whether it was “constructed over a pre-existing structure of a Hindu temple”. The survey was to exclude the wuzukhana area, which was sealed on the Supreme Court’s order in 2022 after Hindu litigants pointed to the presence there of what they identified as a Shivling. Muslim litigants say the object is a fountain. For the Hindu right-wing, the temple disputes in Mathura and Varanasi (also known as Kashi) are part of a larger ideological narrative as encapsulated in the slogan “Ayodhya toh bas jhanki hai, Kashi, Mathura baki hai (Ayodhya is just a glimpse, Kashi and Mathura are yet to come)” that gained currency amid the tumult of the Ram Janmabhoomi movement in the 1980s and 1990s. But last June RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, in his first comments on the row over the Gyanvapi mosque, questioned the need to “look for a Shivling in every mosque (har masjid me Shivling kyun dekhna)” and said the Sangh was not in favour of launching any other movement (andolan) on these issues. Following the Supreme Court judgment in favour of a Ram Temple in Ayodhya on November 9, 2019, asked if his organisation would next take up the Gyanvapi mosque dispute and the Shahi Idgah-Krishna Janmabhoomi dispute in Mathura, Bhagwat had said, “Because of a historical backdrop, the Sangh got associated with this movement (Ayodhya) as an organisation. It is an exception. Now we will again be associated with human development and this movement will not remain of concern to us.” But legal cases and comments from politicians have kept the pot simmering. The Places of Worship Act of 1991, enacted when the Ram Temple movement was at its peak, mandated that the nature of all places of worship — the Ayodhya case being an exception — be maintained as on August 15, 1947. Petitions have been filed in the Supreme Court challenging it. Recommended reading: Kashi Vishwanath in Sangh focus — first in 1959, but rarely thereafter An election in Rajasthan The Karanpur Assembly constituency in Rajasthan’s Sri Ganganagar district will vote on Friday. The election had to be adjourned following the death of the Congress candidate and sitting MLA Gurmeet Singh Kunnar. The BJP candidate from the seat, Surendra Pal Singh TT, has already been sworn in as minister of state (independent charge) in the Bhajanlal Sharma government, a move vehemently opposed by the Congress. As per the rules, non-MLAs can be made ministers on the condition that they get elected within six months. But it is rare for this to be extended to a candidate in the middle of an election process. The Congress has fielded Kenner’s son Rupinder Singh. The results will be declared on January 8. Recommended reading: Candidate in coming polls-plus-minister, why a Rajasthan election is making news Conference of top cops The three-day annual conference of DGPs and IGPs begins in Jaipur on Friday, with matters such as counter-terrorism challenges, prison reforms, Leftwing Extremism, prison reforms, and challenges posed by new technologies set to be discussed. “Another key agenda of the conference is deliberations on the road map for implementation of the new criminal laws,” the Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement. PM Narendra Modi will interact with the country's top police officers before addressing them at a formal session. He is scheduled to attend the conference on Saturday and Sunday. Union Home Minister Amit Shah is scheduled to be present throughout, as per a PTI report.
