A row has erupted over the placement of the Ashtadatu statue of Goddess Vagdevi inside the highly sensitive Bhojshala complex and its alleged removal by the Archaeological Survey of India, three weeks after the Madhya Pradesh High Court declared the monument a temple.
A petitioner from the Hindu side blamed the ASI for removing the statue, calling it contempt of court, while a representative from the Muslim side objected to its installation.
The Supreme Court, after accepting two public interest petitions from the Hindu side, declared Bhojshala a temple of Goddess Vagdevi (Saraswati) on May 15.
The High Commissioner stated that ASI should have “full supervisory control” over the maintenance, preservation and regulation of religious access.
Kuldeep Tiwari, one of the petitioners in the Bhoshala case, said on Monday that some devotees installed an Ashtadatu (eight metal) statue in the complex last Saturday (June 6) and performed rituals while chanting mantras.
He claimed that devotees were worshiping the idol throughout Saturday, but in the evening, the ISI allegedly removed it from the Bhoshala complex.
“The removal of Ashtadhatu statue of Goddess Vagdevi by ASI is highly objectionable. This action is in contempt of the court order and an insult to the faith of devotees,” he said in a statement.
Tiwari said a replica of Vagdevi’s statue remains in place in the Bhojshala complex. He said since the original idol is preserved in the British Museum in London, an Ashtadhatu idol should be installed in the temple as a replacement until the original idol is returned to India.
He stressed that he did not know which worshipers installed the Ashtadatu idol in the complex.
ASI’s response to the allegation of idol removal is not available.
When asked about the controversy, Prashant Patankar, ASI officer in Dhar district, said he was not authorized to make statements to the media.
Dhar Superintendent of Police Sachin Sharma said that the May 15 order of the Supreme Court and the regulations relating to Bhojshala are being strictly adhered to.
The two petitioners from the Hindu side, who won the case before the Indore High Court bench, insist that the original idol of Goddess Vagdevi be returned to India and reinstalled at Bhoshala.
The Supreme Court had indicated that the Government of India may consider returning the statue of Goddess Saraswati from the London Museum and recreating it inside the complex.
“In view of this observation by the Supreme Court, no other statue can legally be placed in the Bhoshala complex,” said Zulfikar Pathan, head of the Kamal Mawla Mosque prayer committee in Dhar.
Pathan demanded that the Islamic inscriptions on the walls of the Bhoshala complex be fully protected.
The HC bench identified the religious nature of the Bhojshala complex as a Vagdevi (Goddess Saraswati) temple.
The court also annulled the order issued by the Association of Muslim Scholars on April 7, 2003 allowing Muslims to perform prayers in the complex every Friday. This order allowed Hindus to worship at the memorial only on Tuesdays.
After the Supreme Court’s decision to declare Bhojshala a temple, Hindus continued to worship at the complex.
