After a court order granted them permission at a disputed site, Hindu worshippers have started praying inside a 17th-century mosque in Varanasi, India. The Gyanvapi Mosque is one of several Muslim places of worship that right-wing Hindu groups, supported by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), have been trying to reclaim for years.
Varanasi, Modi’s parliamentary constituency in Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous state, is also governed by the BJP.
A local court ruled that Hindu worshippers could pray in the building’s basement and ordered the authorities to “make proper arrangements” for worshippers within a week. Indian media reports said the family members of Hindu priests started praying in the mosque’s basement in the early hours of Thursday.
Post from www.aljazeera.com
