India’s Mosque Further Fuels Tensions Between Hindus & Muslims

Days after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated a Hindu temple built over a medieval Babri mosque demolished by agitators in 1990, a new report by the Archaeological Survey of India at another mosque, also in Uttar Pradesh, revealed that the house of worship was built over a pre-existing Hindu temple. A court ruling that followed the survey granted Hindus permission to conduct prayers in one of Gyanvapi mosque’s four cellars. In his last judgment before retiring, the district judge permitted the puja — or the Hindu act of worship — to take place in the sealed basement of the Gyanvapi mosque. It’s where Hindu groups claim was once a temple site. The court ordered that officials ensure the necessary arrangements for these rituals to take place within a seven-day timeframe.