The Hindu : Bid to enter Bhojshala

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Feb 19, 2003

Front Page

Front Page

Bid to enter Bhojshala

DHAR (MADHYA PRADESH) FEB. 18. Clamping tight security, police today foiled an attempt by Hindu Jagran Manch activists to force their way into the disputed Bhojshala-Kamal Moula mosque premises here and arrested over 150 people.

As a large crowd of HJM activists gathered at the barricades near the disputed site, police fired teargas shells to disperse the demonstrators, the Inspector-General, V.M. Kanwar, said.

In the stone-pelting that followed, five policemen were injured. Incidents of torching of government vehicles and stone-throwing were also reported from different parts of the town where the district administration clamped ban orders. The HJM has, meanwhile, given a call for a Dhar district bandh tomorrow to protest the "excesses" of the administration. — PTI

`Cannot repeat Gujarat'

Our Staff Correspondent reports from Bhopal:

The Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister, Digvijay Singh, has asserted that those trying to vitiate the prevailing atmosphere of communal harmony in the State would be firmly dealt with and warned the Bharatiya Janata Party that it would not be allowed to repeat "another Gujarat" in Madhya Pradesh.

The Chief Minister was replying to an Assembly debate on the Governor's address after members from the BJP, led by the Leader of the Opposition, Babulal Gaur, staged a walkout today.

On the issue of Dhar's Bhojshala, the Chief Minister tabled documents to substantiate what had been stated before the Indore Bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court on January 27, 1998, by the Government's advocates, including J.B. Mahajan and Sumitra Mahajan, on behalf of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).

Through the advocates, the High Court had been informed that the factual identity of the present structure (Bhojshala) was not definitely known, nor could it be ascertained from a study of the structure itself.

It had also been submitted before the court that the actual location of the original Bhojshala was a mystery. Further, the court was told by the ASI that the structure under dispute had been declared protected. Hence, it was at the initiative of the ASI that the entry into the Bhojshala had been restricted with Muslims being allowed to offer prayers on Fridays and the Hindus on Basant Panchami Day.

The Chief Minister also tabled an agreement signed by those representing the Hindus as well as Muslims at Dhar on April 23, 1995, to continue the restrictions.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Front Page

Stories in this Section

Ayodhya debate on Feb. 26

MPs back cricket team

We'll fight back: Tendulkar

Bid to enter Bhojshala

Airline staff plan strike tomorrow

Fewer overstayers than Advani figures

Over 130 killed in S.Korean train blaze

Envoys get visas

`Trishul diksha'

Warne tests positive again