Author: Deepak Kumar Rath
Publication: Organiser
Date: June 15, 2003
"Bhojshala is a temple, it is no
masjid and the Central Government is trying to bring back the idol of Goddess
Saraswati from the London Museum and have it installed in the Bhojshala
temple,''said Smt. Bhavana Chikhalia, Union Minister of State for Tourism
and Culture while talking to Organiser after her recent visit to Bhojshala
at Dhar in Madhya Pradesh.
"Union Tourism Minister Jagmohan
had already written to the Finance Minister of India regarding the idol
to be installed in the temple for regular worship", she informed.
Smt Chikhalia who went round the
Bhojshala complex was accompanied by Madhya Pradesh BJP leader Sadhvi Umashri
Bharati and spent about an hour there with media persons. More than five
hundred devotees were present in the temple. They performed pooja, sang
bhajans and recited the Hanuman Chalisa inside the Bhojshala temple. Contradicting
newspaper reports that she had granted permission for photography at the
Bhojshala, she clarified that the media persons were there only to cover
her visit as a minister. "There is absolutely nothing wrong in journalists
accompanying a minister to gather news and for photography, if permissible,"
she asserted.
Smt Chikhalia maintained that the
Bhojshala is very much a temple for the fact that there are enough number
of motifs on the pillars and rock
inscriptions of conches, bells
and other carvings of a Hindu temple in the Bhojshala's typical temple
architecture. "It was first demolished by medieval fanatics", the Union
Minister pointed out. It is worth
mentioning here that the Tourism and Culture Minister Bhavana Chikhalia
along with the Sadhvi Umashri Bharati paid obeisance to the religious lotus
symbol, which is carved to the wall as is common to all Hindu temples.
Asked about her reaction to the
Hindu Jagaran Manch's demand for slapping a ban on namaz within the Bhojshala
premises, Smt Chikhalia replied, "Government would take effective steps
in this regard in near future."
Smt Chikhalia emphasised that the
name of the monument as mentioned in the Archiological Survey of India
(ASI) entry tickets-Bhojshala Kamal Maula Masjid- should be "corrected".
She added that the Bhojshala temple and the mosque have separate premises
and the two are different monuments. The entry ticket to the Bhojshala
temple should mention only Bhojshala, she emphasised.
It may be noted that the Hindus
had earlier been granted permission to offer only floral worship at the
Bhojshala on every Tuesday and Muslims were allowed to offer namaz every
Friday.
BJP leader Sadhvi Umashri Bharathi
who happened to be in the Bhojshala in the course of her Sankalp Yatra
appealed for a consensus on renovating the Bhojshala complex on the lines
of the Somnath temple in Gujarat.
The firebrand Sadhvi attacked the
Congress Chief Minister Digvijay Singh for creating an unnecessary
controversy on the issue. She said:
"Bhojshala is not a disputed structure" and added that "it is the Congressmen
who fraudulently named the complex as masjid which is absolutely incorrect
and CM Digvijay Singh will have to repent for this mischief on part of
the local Congressmen."
Sadhvi Umashri emphasised that "remnants
of a temple like conch, bell, carved pillars abound in the Bhojshala, therefore
it is natural that Muslims cannot claim it as a mosque.
The BJP leader however clearly indicated
that Bhojshala is not an election issue, in Madhya Pradesh. "BJP will contest
the elections on the issues of development and equitable governance", she
said. The Bhojshala was only a stopover as part of her Sankalp yatra, she
clarified.
