Aveed Khan has changed his business name from Shrinath Dosa to American Dosa Corner
Mathura:
In the streets around a religious site in Mathura where a temple and a mosque stand side by side, a handful of Muslim restaurants that remain mostly empty or closed.
The ban on meat last year by the Uttar Pradesh chief minister, who issued orders on religious grounds, has ruined their business.
Now Yogi Adityanath, who is set for re-election in the major state elections next month, has turned his attention to the temple itself, suggesting he is involved in a long-running dispute with Muslims over the site’s owner. Will support the Hindu cause.
The issue has become a central part of the ruling party’s campaign to increase its grip on power in Uttar Pradesh, where 200 million people live and a harbinger of national politics.
Hindus and Muslims have debated for decades over who should control the site, echoing other disputes in India, which have on occasions erupted into deadly riots between the two communities.
Shahi Idgah Mosque and Krishna Temple seen side by side in Mathura
According to interviews with over 20 residents, the mention of the Mathura controversy during campaign rallies and on social media worries the city’s Muslims.
Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay, author of several books on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, said, “An old matter that has been resolved… is being revived because we have a new, victorious Hinduism.”
“There is a greater emphasis on playing the temple card.”
Opinion polls suggest that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), led by Yogi Adityanath, will win votes in Uttar Pradesh despite widespread discontent over the economy and the government’s handling of the pandemic.
The chief minister, seen by some analysts as a possible successor to PM Modi, has cast the ballot as “80% versus 20%”, figures he did not fully explain. The percentages pretty much match the Hindu and Muslim portions of the population across the state.
Yogi Adityanath’s office did not respond to a request for comment on the situation in Mathura.
‘nothing to fear’
The BJP swept to power in Uttar Pradesh in 2017 on a Hindu-first agenda and did not field a single Muslim candidate.
The victory reflects the party’s dominance at the national level since PM Modi came to power in 2014 after appealing to a Hindu majority.
The main opposition Congress party complains that it and the BJP discriminate against minorities and risk violence by putting Hindus first. PM Modi has defended his record and said that his economic and social policies benefit all Indians.
BJP’s Minorities Commission chief Jamal Siddiqui said the party is working to increase the number of minority candidates in Uttar Pradesh and four other states to be held next month.
“I expect minority communities to participate in both the election and the government,” he told Reuters. “The Modi government has protected religious places for all religions. Now, instead of fearing saffron, Muslims are drawing closer.”
Mr Siddiqui said BJP’s suspicion among Muslims in Mathura is due to misleading claims of opposition parties.
‘no compromise’
Mathura is considered to be the birthplace of Krishna among the holiest cities of Hinduism.
A temple standing at the iconic site of his birth was demolished during the Mughal Empire in the 17th century and a mosque was built in its place, known as the Shahi Idgah. A temple complex built in the 1950s now dates back to the mosque.
Z Hassan, the chairman of the trust that runs the Idgah, said an agreement was reached in 1968 to settle the use of the land, and that the two structures stood like “two sisters” until legal action was initiated to demolish the mosque in 2020. .
“I have been here for 55 years. I did not feel the tension between Hindus and Muslims,” he said. “Only in the last few years, has the idea come to be that there are two communities.”
The case, brought to a local court by several priests, says that the 1968 settlement was fraudulent.
“This land is very important for us,” said Vishnu Jain, counsel for the petitioners. “I don’t believe in any kind of dialogue. There is only one compromise that can be , That they will get out of this property.”
Both sides expect the case to last for years.
The local controversy was raised by Yogi Adityanath and several other BJP leaders during the election campaign.
He said at a rally last month that temple construction work in Mathura was “in progress” on the lines of similar development in Ayodhya, without giving further details.
Bike passing through construction of temple entrance in Mathura
Ayodhya was the scene of communal violence in 1992 and 1993 in which hundreds were killed after the 16th-century Babri Masjid mosque was demolished, which many Hindus claimed was the birthplace of Lord Rama.
A court’s decision allowing construction of a temple at the Babri Masjid site was a major campaign issue in the 2019 general election when the BJP increased its majority.
‘The land is ours’
Many Hindu residents of Mathura support the plan to take back the land from the mosque.
“The land is ours and it should be given back,” said 19-year-old Bipin Goswami.
Local authorities mobilized thousands of security personnel in December after the announcement of an attempt to put a Krishna statue inside the mosque on the anniversary of the destruction of the Babri Masjid.
The attempt failed, but at the mosque, which had been surrounded by barbed wire and lookout towers since the early 1990s, police now check the ID cards of everyone who entered the complex.
Aved Khan, a 30-year-old Muslim who owns a food cart in Mathura, said he changed the name of his business from Srinath Dosa to American Dosa Corner after a group of men demanded that he stop using the Hindu name.
“You are a Muslim, how can you have this name?” According to a police report of the incident in August, a man asked, tearing up the stall signs.
Rajesh Mani Tripathi, national president of the Shri Krishna Janmabhoomi Mukti Dal – a hardline Hindu group that was also behind the effort to install the statue – told Reuters he was one of those involved in the controversy.
“If he was a Muslim, he should write his name on the banner and not deceive people by taking a Hindu name,” he said.
Muslims in Mathura also complained about Yogi Adityanath’s decision in September to ban meat within a 3 km radius of the temple.
The Khali Royal restaurant, which is one of the few in the open area, makes traditional sheep kebabs and chicken tikka from soya.
Sajid Anwar, standing in front of the closed Labback restaurant, said, “There was no tension here before the BJP.”
Mr Anwar said that there is no demand for vegetarian food among Muslims. He is waiting for the election results before deciding to shut down permanently.
“If Yogi returns, I will have to find another occupation.”
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