‘Kashi, Mathura temple issues may echo in 2022 UP Assembly polls’

Lucknow: The issue of Kashi Vishwanath and Mathura temple may find a place in Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections slated for next year, few political analysts and politicians in the Hindi heartland believe.

A civil court in Varanasi has ordered allowing excavation by the Archaeological Survey at Kashi Vishwanath Temple and the adjacent Gyanvapi Masjid to ascertain the medieval history of the place.

“This court order will provide the political fodder to the right-wing parties particularly when Uttar Pradesh will go to polls in early 2022,” Manish Dixit a political analyst apprehended.

Some even believe that Kashi and Mathura will now find a place in the election manifesto of the BJP.

“The Ram Mandir is almost done and dusted for the BJP. Construction of the temple is on and will be dedicated to people before the next Lok Sabha election. But for assembly polls, Mathura and Kashi can be potent weapons and the Civil court order has added a new dimension to the state politics,” Amarnath Agarwal, a senior Congress leader claimed.

UP BJP vice-president Vijay Bahadur Pathak said, “We don’t believe in discord in society, but whatever be the truth, should come to the fore.”

The ASI is likely to set up a five-member team that will visit the area soon. Sunni Central Waqf Board has decided to contest the Court order. The board chairman of the Uttar Pradesh Zufar Ahmad Farooqui has said that they will challenge the court verdict in the High Court. (UNI)