Mandya: The Srirangapattana Tahasildar imposed Section 144 ahead of Srirangapattana Chalo rally organised by Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Bajrang Dal and other Hindu outfits to press the Government to hand over Jamia Mosque to Hindus as it was originally Anjaneya Temple.
Tahsildar Shwetha Ravindra on Thursday June 2 issued order prohibiting any kind of protest , rally , assembling of people to maintain law and order. The section 144 is imposed from June 3 6.00 pm to June 5 6.00 am.
The Hindu leaders said that the rally will be organised on Saturday June 4 against llegal occupation of Jamia Mosque. They said that erstwhile King Tipu Sultan demolished Anjaneya Temple in 1787 and threw idol into river, converted it as mosque. Even now we can see the Hindu carvings in pillars and walls of the temple which also has been mentioned in Mysore Gazetteer.
A Madarasa is running in mosque, the authorities should evict encroachers and to allow Hindus to worship Lord Anjaneya. They also said that the Archaeological Department should conduct survey of the mosque as it is also another case like Gyanvapi Mosque.
They also warned to file suit in court if the authorities does not take steps. The police have deployed heavy contigent of 5 KSRP and 3 DAR platoons and erected barricades around mosque. The weekly shanty to be held on Saturday June 4 has been deferred to Sunday June 5.
Superintendent of Police N. Yetish told mediapersons that we have convined Hindu leaders that no procession, jatha, protest and any kind of meetings will not be allowed. If anybody violates section stringent action would be initiated, he warned.
Sri Ram Sena founder Pramod Muthalik has announced that his organisation would support ‘Srirangapatna Chalo’ call on June 4. “We urge to conduct survey of masjid on lines of Gyanwapi mosque,” he said. The agitation regarding loudspeakers would be taken up in the second stage, he said.
Hindu organisations have given calls on social media and various plaforms to participate in Srirangapatna Chalo programme.
Large number of Hanuman devotees are expected to gather in the town and authorities are gearing up to manage the situation without any untoward incident.
Sources explain that they are waiting from the orders of the Government to handle thousands of devotees who will try to enter masjid and perform pooja.
The mosque authorities have already made several appeals to authorities to protect the Jamia mosque from Hindu activists.
Built by Tipu Sultan in 1786-87, Jamia mosque is also called as Masjid-i-Ala and is located inside the Srirangapatna fort. The mosque has three inscriptions that mention nine names of Prophet Mohammad.
The Narendra Modi Vichar Manch organisation, which had made submissions to the authorities for survey of the mosque, said that they strongly believe that Jamia masjid was built after razing down a Hanuman temple. They quote B. Lewis Rice, a British historian, archaeologist and educationist, who in his report to the Archaeological Survey of India in 1935, had mentioned about a Hanuman temple on Page number 61.
(inputs from IANs)
