Gyanvapi mosque row: Those calling ‘Shivling’ a fountain have no right to live in India, says UP women commission member

PTI

Meerut (UP), May 18

In a provocative statement, deputy chairperson of the Uttar Pradesh State Women Commission Sushma Singh on Wednesday said those calling the ‘Shivling’ found inside the Gyanvapi mosque a fountain don’t have the right to live in the country.

She was reacting to the claimed discovery of a Shivling during a district court-ordered survey in the mosque complex in Varanasi. The mosque management committee disputed the claim, saying the structure was part of a fountain in the wazookhana reservoir.

“People who are calling Shivling as a fountain do not consider themselves Indians, I think they have no right to live in this country,” Singh, who came to participate in an official program, told reporters here.

To a question whether whatever was found was a Shivling or a fountain, she said “I haven’t been there. What social media and TV is showing and whatever our history tells, wherever the excavation has been done around or under the mosque, Shivling and snake deities have emerged there.” The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the District Magistrate of Varanasi to ensure protection of area inside the Gyanvapi-Shringar Gauri complex where ‘Shivling’ is said to be found in a recent survey and allowed Muslims to offer ‘Namaz’.

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