Explained: Why this right-wing group wants to perform puja at a Tipu Sultan built Mosque?

Bengaluru, May 17: Amid the row around the Gyanvapi Masjid complex in Uttar Pradesh's Varanasi, a right-wing group in Mandya district in Karnataka have approached the Deputy Commissioner seeking permission to perform 'pooja' inside Tipu Sultan built Jamia Masjid, which is popularly known as Masjid-i-Ala.

What is the Issue All About?

As per the right-wing groups, Lord Hanuman temple was in existence before the mosque was built by Tipu Sultan. The activist group said that there is documentary evidence that the Jamia Masjid was Anjaneya Temple.

"The documentary evidence of Tipu writing to a ruler in Persia admitting that there was Hanuman temple and the mosque where Hindu inscriptions on its pillar and walls support our stand," CT Manjunath, Narendra Modi Vichar Manch President, said.

"We requested them to open the mosque's doors to offer prayers," he further added.

They claimed that Tipu Sultan wrote about this in a letter to the king of Persia Khalif and demanded that the archaeological department must consider the documents and investigate the matter.

Rishi Kumar seer or Kali Mutt claimed that the mosque was built after demolishing Anjaneya Temple in 1784. It was constructed during Tipu's era, he said.

Masjid-i-Ala is a mosque located inside the Srirangapatna Fort in Srirangapatna in Mandya District. It is located close to the Bangalore Gate and has two minarets.

The mosque has three inscriptions that mention the nine names of Prophet Mohammad. The mosque has a Madrasa and a cloister for rooms. However, the mosque is maintained and administered by the Bangalore Circle of Archaeological Survey of India.

Gyanvapi Masjid Row

This development comes at a time when a local court on Monday ordered the sealing of a pond in the Gyanvapi Masjid complex after lawyers representing the Hindu petitioners said a Shivling was found there during the court-mandated videography survey. However, a mosque management committee member disputed the claim, saying the object was part of the water fountain mechanism at the wazookhana reservoir where devotees carry out ablutions before offering namaz.